I’ll tell you the truth: I think smart glasses are great. I’m not saying they’ve been working well all the time, or they don’t do what they should do halfway through this stage, or they don’t need a lot of computing power. From my honesty, these things are true. But even if I had to scream my pair of thunder dogs, I only played Elton John this morning, just let them repeatedly Try playing John Prine, one thing I love them: their potential.
Google (if I/O 2025 is any sign) can see the same potential as well. It spent some time in the keynote, shedding light on the vision that Smart Glasses offers through its Android XR Smart Glasses platform and hardware made with Xreal. The possibilities are tempting. Using Android XR and Smart glasses (such as Project Aura glasses) may actually take a new level, especially through optical transmission, where things like turning navigation can be superimposed in front of the eyeball.
If you were watching a live demo yesterday, it seems like we could be on the cusp of the futuristic smart glasses we’ve been waiting for, partly true. Smart Glasses – People who do what we want them to do all the fun things –yes Looming, but unfortunately, for everyone, including Google, they may be much more difficult than tech companies believe. When it comes to glasses, there are still restrictions, many of them.
First, if smart glasses will be the gadgets we want them to be the future, they need some kind of pass. Technically, we are already there. Although Gizmodo’s senior editor consumer technology Ray Wong only had about a minute to try the Aura Project Project at Google I/O, he could prove that glasses do have optical displays that can display maps and other digital information. However, the problem is not the screen. This is what the screen may need.
I’m personally curious about the impact that having optical transmission may have on battery life. When it comes to smart glasses in terms of functionality, size is still the biggest problem, that is, it is difficult to stuff all these buildings into the frame we need, and these architectures are no heavier than regular glasses. Consider it: you need a battery, a computing power supply, a driver for the speaker, etc. All of these are relatively small these days, but they add up. And, if your glasses can suddenly do more than they did before, you will need a battery that reflects those features, especially when you use optical delivery, play audio and query your onboard voice assistant at once. A bigger battery means bigger weight and a bulkier look, and I really don’t care about walking around with the Buddy Holly-Holly-Oking frame all day.
I was promised 5 minutes with Google Android XR smart glasses, but they only gave me 3 minutes, half of which were explaining what they mean and how they work, so I actually had only 90 seconds to use Gemini on the wall painting, two books on the bookshelf, and… pic.twitter.com/ly60box91g
– Raywongy (@Raywongy) May 20, 2025
Then there is the price. Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses are already relatively expensive (over $300, depending on the model), although there is not even a screen there. Obviously, I don’t have an expected list of materials for Project aura or Google prototype Android XR glasses, but I’m going to assume these types of optical displays are priced higher than your typical sunglasses. This fact makes supply chains and manufacturing infrastructure around the fact that making these types of displays might not be very robust, as people actually started buying smart glasses in the mainstream only about five minutes ago.
I sound like I’m not right here, maybe I’m kind of. Historically, shrinking technology has never been an easy task, but these are the most powerful and resourceful companies in the world that make these things, and I don’t doubt they can’t figure it out. Not keen people will stop them. This is a promise. I want to believe that given all the time Google is committed to showing Project Project Aura yesterday, the key level exists, but it’s hard to say. Still, Google is pulling in various directions, such as AI, AI and AI. I can only hope that in this case Google actually puts its money where its futuristic spy glasses are and actually puts Aura into the implementation. Come on, Google, Dad needs a HUD-enabled map to ride a bike around New York City.
