Google Returns To Smart Glasses With Samsung, Warby Parker And Gentle Monster

Google is back in smart glasses after nearly a decade, this time without making the wearables itself. The company has partnered with Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster on nine styles that include cameras and audio feedback from Gemini, but no heads-up displays. Preorders are available now, with sales and shipments beginning December 10.

Styles, prices and battery life

Warby Parker offers three styles with prescription and sunglass lens options, starting at $395. Gentle Monster offers six frames with the same lens options, starting at $449. Both promise nine hours of battery life, and charging cases can refresh the glasses up to seven times.

How the glasses work

Wearers can push a button or speak a command to activate the built-in 12MP camera for photos or video. Google says the glasses can answer questions about what users see through Gemini or provide turn-by-turn directions. None of the nine styles feature heads-up displays.

Privacy protections and limits

Google says a tamper-resistant light comes on whenever the camera is activated, and recording can be disabled if something blocks the light. The company says a combination of hardware and software detects attempts to disable or disrupt privacy features. Images and video captured by the camera are not saved into a user's Gemini history, and visuals are not used to train AI models or target ads.

Google says it saves audio recordings and transcripts of conversations with Gemini created while wearing the glasses, but says those are not used to train its AI models. The tech specs redact strangers' faces before transmission when wearers ask Gemini to interpret images, though face redaction does not apply to photos or videos saved to a wearer's camera roll. Terms of use require users not to record others without permission or in sensitive places, and Google reserves the right to brick devices if users ignore that requirement. Google also will not allow apps that use the glasses for real-time streaming or facial recognition into its Play app store. Because the glasses can still store recordings of people nearby, non-real-time facial recognition remains possible.

Earlier coverage: Google's Eyewear Partners Can't Keep a Lid on Their Smart Glasses

Sources: The Register