Android XR smart glasses promise to rectify the chaos and inconsistencies in the smart glasses market.
In the realm of smart glasses, consumer choice is increasingly bewildering. With an abundance of options, the question becomes one of hardware specifications or software functionality.
In his weekly column on our website, Senior Content Producer Nick Sutrich explores the world of VR, from the latest hardware to upcoming technologies, new games, and more. The rapidly evolving smartglasses market brings unique challenges.
Currently, there is no standard software for glasses, leading to a fragmented market reminiscent of the smartphone landscape in the mid-2000s. Major players are yet to establish full-fledged operating systems for their glasses. Instead, software features are a patchwork of capabilities, with some glasses offering features like spatial tracking right out of the box, while others require additional apps to function.
On the other hand, AI glasses such as Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses lack a traditional operating system, relying on middleware programs on a smartphone to handle queries and manage features like meta AI, photo, and video syncing. This means a different app is required for each pair, with no cross-compatibility.
Android XR, a unified software platform being developed by Google, may soon offer a solution to this fragmentation. The Android XR-powered Xreal Project Aura glasses are designed to run the same apps and basic features, ensuring a consistent user experience. This development promises to simplify the process of identifying and using compatible apps, reducing the need for lengthy troubleshooting sessions.
While the specific capabilities of Android XR-powered smart glasses are not yet fully known, they are expected to cater to the two main types of smart glasses - those with displays and those without. In theory, Android XR should handle tasks like movement, display, and processing, offloading these tasks to a connected phone as necessary to ensure compatibility.
By standardizing software and hardware functions, Android XR aims to make smart glasses more akin to smartwatches in terms of functionality and usability. The platform is designed to ensure consistency among devices from different manufacturers, improve app compatibility, and provide users with a seamless, everyday experience. The integration of Google's Gemini AI is also expected to offer a more natural way to interact with the environment and access information.
The success of Android XR has the potential to make smart glasses as ubiquitous as smartwatches, if not more so, by providing users with a unified, easier-to-navigate platform. As the details of Android XR and its compatible devices continue to unfold, there is an exciting prospect on the horizon for the smart glasses industry.
- Nick Sutrich, in his weekly column, might discuss the potential of Android XR, a unified software platform, to align the smart glass market with the seamless functionality of smartphones, given the current fragmented state reminiscent of the smartphone landscape in the mid-2000s.
- As more details about Android XR and its compatible smart glasses emerge, the expected similarities in functionality and usability to smartwatches could possibly make smart glasses as common as, if not more than, smartwatches in everyday use, considering Android XR's aim to standardize software and hardware functions for a unified and easier-to-navigate platform.
