Although experiences like Apple’s spatial computing look impressive in demos, their practical use in daily life is hampered by one important consideration. No matter how lightweight you make them, headsets that wrap around your skull and block your vision will always be awkward, isolating, and even hazardous. Ideally, we’ll get our eXtended reality or XR fix through eyewear that doesn’t look any different from the ones you wear, presuming you wear prescription glasses, of course.
Google might finally be changing that status quo with its renewed enthusiasm for AR, VR, MR, XR, and everything in between. Although Samsung’s was the focus of much attention when Google announced its new Android XR endeavor, the platform wasn’t meant to stop there. It will also be available in the regular smart glasses design, and Google finally reveals a little bit of what it was working on.
Designer: Google
In a TED 2025 talk, Google’s Shahram Izadi showed off a prototype Android XR device in action. While the demo itself was pretty impressive, especially for having no technical problems during the entire test, most are probably already used to the features that the AI-powered Android XR can bring to the table. What really caught people’s eyes, however, were the glasses used for that demonstration.
They looked pretty discreet, at least as far as very thick glasses are concerned. Unlike specs from Xreal or VITURE, however, the lenses are completely clear and transparent. You can see the world in front of you clearly, and people can see your eyes unobstructed. Despite that simple and relatively slim design, the prototype still had room for a display to let you read text or notifications, though it will be in a small corner or side of your vision rather than in your face.
The smart glasses naturally have cameras, as Gemini, which is the main point for user interaction on Android XR, needs to be able to see the world as you see it. It listens to your voice prompts, of course, but it needs to understand what you’re looking at in order to make sense of your requests. For example, it was able to remember where you last put down your keys, play music based on an album jacket you’re holding, or even explain a diagram from a book you have opened before you.
This “rolling window” AI experience, while powerful, might also raise privacy concerns, seeing as it can remember things it saw even when the wearer wasn’t paying attention or intentionally looking at a thing. And then there’s the style of the glasses themselves, since not everyone will be happy with such thick frames, and it might be a while before we can actually have XR glasses that are really stylish and inconspicuous.
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