Head up: Huawei unveils tech glasses with posture control
Chinese smartphone giant Huawei also has an XR strategy, which it is gradually implementing. On the long road towards advanced tech glasses, Huawei now presents another intermediate step.
Huawei is launching a new pair of tech glasses in China: the "Huawei Smart Glass" has built-in 128 mm stereo speakers, as well as a dual-microphone for voice commands and phone calls. The speakers are supposed to be oriented in such a way that as little sound as possible gets to the outside world.
All the technology is housed in the arms of the glasses; Huawei first unveiled a similar pair of tech glasses in March 2019. Cameras like those on Meta's Ray-Ban are not built in.
Digital assistance build in glasses
Huawei markets the smart glasses as an assistance system for the nose: via a smartphone connection, the glasses remind you of appointments, inform you about the weather or translate text.
The glasses can be connected to two Huawei devices at the same time, the connection is changed directly on the glasses - touch sensors are built into the temple for this and other inputs. In addition, the glasses can be controlled remotely via an app.
Huawei's Smart Glass is intended to whisper useful information into the wearer's ear or read out messages in everyday life. The smartphone can remain in the pocket. | Image: Huawei
For the operating system, Huawei relies on its own HarmonyOS 2. The company has been developing the Android alternative since the break with Google. Back in 2019, Huawei showed off a timeline for Harmony OS, with plans to use it for various tech and VR glasses starting in 2020.
Posture control: head up
One curious feature of the new smart glasses is posture control: position sensors in the glasses are supposed to detect head posture in relation to the cervical spine and issue a warning if you hang your head while sitting, for example. According to Huawei, the glasses should thus contribute to the health of the cervical spine.
Huawei Smart Glass comes in six designs, as sunglasses or clear glasses, and in different colors. The battery is supposed to last up to 16 hours, the maximum talk time is 4.5 hours, and the glasses last six hours when playing music.
The different designs of Huawei's new tech glasses. | Image: Huawei
Huawei Smart Glass are charged via USB-C cable using a magnetic system, and they are also protected against sweat and splash water (IPX4). Depending on the model, Huawei Smart Glass costs between 235 and 265 Euros.
In the summer of this year, Huawei introduced the AR app "Unseen", which is supposed to permanently anchor AR elements in reality. The VR Glass VR glasses are said to run on a PC or smartphone and offer a comparatively slim form factor.
Huawei is also looking into autonomous driving and smart cities. Recently, the company unveiled the giant text AI PanGU, which is expected to reach the performance level of OpenAI's GPT-3 for Chinese language.
Note: Links to online stores in articles can be so-called affiliate links. If you buy through this link, MIXED receives a commission from the provider. For you the price does not change.
