Here is the detail that matters most in Google's new glasses, and it is not the camera. Before Gemini looks at what you are looking at, the glasses blur the faces of the people around you. That single design choice tells you Google remembers how Google Glass went in 2013, when the camera on your face was the whole problem. Thirteen years later it is back with a different plan: no screen, no tech look, and frames from two brands people actually choose to wear, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. Samsung is the hardware partner. Pre-orders opened on November 12, and the glasses land in stores and online on December 10.
Gentle Monster Google glasses
Gentle Monster has the louder half of the launch. Its collection is six designs in strong colors, including dark red, pink, gray and yellow, with tinted, clear, blue or brown lenses. Most of the frames take prescription lenses. The shapes are thick and sculpted, the kind the Korean brand is known for, and it hides the tech well. The only giveaways are a small round camera lens at the corner of the frame and thicker arms.
Warby Parker Google glasses
Warby Parker went the other way, with three quiet styles based on its best-loved shapes: Alden, Reid and Wren. Each comes as optical or sun, in Pine, Saddle or Jet Black, with a full range of prescriptions, widths and lens options. The bigger draw may be the stores. You can book a guided demo at more than 360 Warby Parker locations, which matters for a face product you will wear all day.
What the glasses do
Gemini is the whole interface. Say "Hey Gemini" or tap the frame and ask about what is in front of you: a mural, a book, an event poster you want to check against your calendar. Google Maps reads turn-by-turn directions into your ear, and Google Translate handles live speech in more than 70 languages. There is no display in the lens, so everything comes back as audio through open-ear speakers.
- Camera: 12MP ultra-wide with HDR and stabilization, video up to 3K, and spatial audio recording.
- Weight: around 41 grams.
- Battery: up to nine hours, with a case that recharges the glasses up to seven times. About 30 minutes in the case gets you to 60 percent.
- Build: IPX4, so rain and sweat are fine.
- Phones: Pixel 7 or newer, recent Galaxy S and Z models, and iPhone 13 Pro or newer.
Google has clearly thought about the people on the other side of the lens. What Gemini sees through the camera is not saved to your history or used to train its models. A light shows when you are recording, and the glasses stop if that light is covered. A physical switch turns off the camera, microphones and Gemini, so they work as plain glasses.
Two catches. The glasses only work with Google accounts in the US and South Korea, and some features, including Guided Vision for low-vision users and Audible, are Android-only at launch.
Snap is taking a different route with full AR in its Specs glasses, and Gentle Monster already showed how far it can push a frame with Maison Margiela. Full specs are on Google's glasses site.
Our call: pre-order Warby Parker if you need prescription lenses, Gentle Monster if you want them to look like a statement. Either way, try them on in a store first. Warby Parker makes that easy with hundreds of demo locations. Wait if you are on iPhone and want the full feature set, or if you live outside the US and South Korea, because they will not work there yet.
