Here’s Our First Look at Google’s New Android XR Smart Glasses

The first wave of Google's Android XR smart glasses

is coming later this year, and I got to try them all.

How do I look? [Julian chuckling]

At Google I/O, Google showed off our first look

at smart glasses from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster,

both of which are using the Android XR platform

co-developed by Samsung and Google.

It's similar to Meta and the Ray-Ban smart glasses.

Google and Samsung are the purveyors of the technology

while eyewear brands handle the design.

This is what those glasses will look like

when they arrive in the fall,

but I tried out a reference design version

that's not quite final

and got to experience the three types

of glasses in this intelligent eyewear portfolio.

They're incredibly lightweight, though still somewhat thick.

There are audio-only glasses. Play some Radiohead.

These sound pretty impressive

when you're listening to music.

Then there's a version that adds a monocular display

with a single screen lens plus a binocular version

with a dual-screen system for an enriched experience.

The display versions won't launch this year.

All of these glasses have cameras

as that's how the onboard Gemini assistant interacts

with the world.

With the tap on the arms,

the built-in Gemini AI can identify what you're looking at,

translate conversations in real time, or take photos

and instantly edit out background distractions.

I saw immediate translations of someone speaking

to me in French on the display.

[person speaking in French]

Your voice is so much more like excited in this translation.

I could also just hear it with the audio-only glasses.

I asked Gemini what board game was next to me?

What game is this? Chinese checkers.

And I asked it to save instructions

on how to play it in my Google Keep app.

I also asked Gemini to take a photo

and then edit it to change the room's decor

to a medieval hall.

The display versions add a visual layer,

so it can be especially helpful when using the glasses

for turn-by-turn navigation.

Imagine not needing to spend five minutes staring

at Google Maps to reorient yourself

after exiting the subway station.

But the craziest experience came from Xreal's pair

of smart glasses,

also coming later this year dubbed Project Aura.

This is an advanced XR prototype

that's more or less a miniaturized version of, say,

the Apple Vision Pro

or Samsung Galaxy XR, tethered battery pack and all.

The fact that you can just wear these lightweight glasses

and still enjoy all the apps in Android XR,

plus the ability to plug into other devices

to extend the screen and interact

with everything with just hand gestures,

it feels like a breakthrough moment

for mixed reality hardware.

They still look a little clunky,

but it's far better than wearing a bulky headset.

There are still a lot of details under wraps

about these smart glasses,

but expect more later this year.