Kylo83
macrumors 603
Tech really has become boring, at least the Vision Pro lets you watch imax hdr video, they need to focus on that not a bunch of silly glasses with a camera
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Apple Testing Four Smart Glasses Styles Made of High-End Materials
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Dirk Pieters
macrumors 6502a
Isn't that the case already right now with everyone holding a smartphone? If you look at the news, at some scene where something happens ... that scene is surrounded with people taking pictures and video.
Privacy is already gone. People can already take your picture without you seeing them do it.
I don't think glasses will make a difference.
Dirk Pieters
macrumors 6502a
I was wondering the same thing.
- take pictures of things and ask Siri for info
- see notifications as some sort of overlay
- see map routing as some sort of overlay
- facetime
- ??
Some could be handy if done right. Routing would be cool. FaceTime would be cool but would probably eat battery.
Question is (with all of these glasses) ... where is full day battery going to come from? I know Apple claims a few days on the Apple Watch, but if I used my watch to record some sort of exercise then a few days never happened.
tkermit
macrumors 68040
That's being kind. The real problem is that it's become awful.
Nada Ting
macrumors regular
"High-end" is a marketing term, means nothing in real life, and can be used in front of anything you want to overprice.
blairh
macrumors 604
Smart glasses will never take off if cameras are involved. Creepy AF.
Mr_Ed
macrumors 68000
There are probably a few other things smart glasses could do, but nothing that would make me want the glasses. And any function that revolves around other people, like telling you who they are, etc., brings privacy concerns. Facetime would be weird without you being on-camera. They tried to work around that with the AVP and we know how that went. More complexity for little benefit.
I wondered about this too. Tethering them to anything (battery pack or phone) seems like a non-starter, and we already know there are limits to the weight people are willing to wear on their faces and still consider it “comfortable.”
Waaay back in the day I used google glass. There were a lot of limitations, even by 2015 standards. But what made it a real value was the display.
AI is the wrong focus and is ultimately a solution desperately seeking a problem.
95% of the use case for AI is as the Brits say Pure Bollocks! NO ONE is going to want an AI prattling useless internet trivia about their surroundings all day every day. Few people are going to engage the mythical AI Siri to “do stuff”.
The real “cart before the horse” problem with AI assistants is hundreds of billions are being spent to create an experience that will be slightly useful to a few people a few times a week.
What the eyeglass device needs to be is Apple Watch with a camera. They can even call the operating system iEyeOS.
If Apple can make their glasses with a good quality camera, an on lens display and at least 12 hour battery life I’ll pay a substantial price for it. If it is just a camera linked to Siri I won’t give it a second glance.
PS as far as the article goes with the vertical camera - AVP spacial recording is vertical format. I would be shocked if their upcoming glasses didn’t do spacial recording as well. And yes. We all know the orientation is vertical because some old fossil VP takes pictures of her grandkids in portrait mode.
AI is the wrong focus and is ultimately a solution desperately seeking a problem.
95% of the use case for AI is as the Brits say Pure Bollocks! NO ONE is going to want an AI prattling useless internet trivia about their surroundings all day every day. Few people are going to engage the mythical AI Siri to “do stuff”.
The real “cart before the horse” problem with AI assistants is hundreds of billions are being spent to create an experience that will be slightly useful to a few people a few times a week.
What the eyeglass device needs to be is Apple Watch with a camera. They can even call the operating system iEyeOS.
If Apple can make their glasses with a good quality camera, an on lens display and at least 12 hour battery life I’ll pay a substantial price for it. If it is just a camera linked to Siri I won’t give it a second glance.
PS as far as the article goes with the vertical camera - AVP spacial recording is vertical format. I would be shocked if their upcoming glasses didn’t do spacial recording as well. And yes. We all know the orientation is vertical because some old fossil VP takes pictures of her grandkids in portrait mode.
They better start manufacturing more polishing cloths
Le0M
macrumors 65816
DottySr
macrumors newbie
I think the camera lens surrounded by “Hey, I’m photographing/recording” lights will defeat the creeper factor in that it will be more difficult to obscure them.
When ICE was in my city (they still are, just sneakier) I bought Meta glasses so, should I encounter a situation, I might record unnoticed (and save my phone from destruction. Yes, I bought the readily available piece of plastic to obscure the light (which, by the way, won’t work indoors or at night) so that ICE wouldn’t know. Smart phones are expensive! Which is why I wouldn’t want to use them to record such an event. And have all my data on them! So best I not use those to record in such a situation.
Anyway, I now have Meta glasses that go unused. They might be more interesting to record events, wildlife if they would offload the data immediately to your phone and record for a longer interval. Anyway, I do rather hate Meta more than I have concerns about Apple.
One thing I do like about them, and I would imagine Apple would include this, are the open air speakers on the earbows. It is MUCH nicer to listen to music that way and not have earbuds. Even in the AWARE mode, I find both the headphone and the earbud styles oppressive. Not so with the Meta glasses.
I used to buy 1st generation products from Apple. For the iPad, I waited until the 2nd generation.
I eventually realized that Apple historically has immense improvement from the 1st generation to 2nd generation of the same product. There is also significant improvement from the 2nd generation to the 3rd generation. After the 3rd generation, the improvements are more modest.
Because of this, I have been waiting for the 3rd generation of the Vision Pro. They have to come out with the 2nd generation, before they can do that. I suspect there are a lot of people like me. If Apple ever comes out with a 3rd generation Vision Pro, they will likely sell a lot of them.
Rade0
macrumors newbie
When/if the time comes that these are released, my buying questions will be:
- Will they have AR/HUD features? Rumours suggest not, and if not, what’s the use case (assuming camera is worse than iPhone). Hopefully something more than gestures rudimentarily control iPhone/AirPods
- Will we able to swap lenses? Currently most glasses sold by opticians are a bit of a racket - have to buy new frames as prescriptions change every other year
WarmWinterHat
Suspended
No, it's not the same. You can tell if someone has their phone out and taking video, most of the time. Glasses are on all the time, and can easily record without any indication whatsoever.
As with the AirTags, I expect lawsuits for privacy violations and Apple doing something to prevent video recording of people (say, blurring their faces) or adding a very conspicuous flashing light when the glasses are recording or taking pictures.
ayephoner
macrumors 6502a
They are already taking off. Our previous standards for privacy no longer apply.
The truth is, everyone thinks they are an influencer and/or think their photos and videos are VERY important. Taking videos with your phone can take you out of the moment. The thing I like about these glasses is that you can record something AND experience it at the same time. I don't think that will justify the product for me anytime soon though.
ayephoner
macrumors 6502a
This does seem like a pretty bold claim. Most of these glasses want to blend in with other normal glasses and black colors are most popular because it hides the camera best. Maybe they will include the 17 pro plateau between the lenses?
Oof… there’s so many weird assumptions there it’s hard to formulate a sensical reply.
If I’m understanding… your fear is that Apple, arguably the ONLY tech company that doesn’t make the majority of their money being creepy & has spent 10’s of millions of dollars in ad campaigns touting privacy as a key differentiator, is going to put spy cameras that don’t even have an indicator light on a new niche device… literally making a 180° turn from everything they have ever said/shown are their core values? You know how bat guano crazy that sounds, right??
If Apple could add tech into the minimalist frames that Steve wore, that would be impressive.
WarmWinterHat
Suspended
Taking off where? I've never personally seen anyone wearing them, so while they may be around, I don't see them as "taking off". No one seems to be pining for these. My company has went ahead and implemented a 100% no-exceptions ban on employees wearing smart glasses.
Privacy-indicator lights only keep honest people honest. Creeps will easily black it out with a sharpie, a dot of paint, or a tiny bit of electrical tape.
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ayephoner
macrumors 6502a
I'm a teacher. I see students wearing them sometimes. I also see a lot of content being created with them on socials. But that's just circumstantial. The numbers definitely show substantial growth:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/i... 2021 - 2024,Market Size: USD 2,463.6 Million