In the company's newsletter, Alizila, Chinese distributor Alibaba unveiled new smart specs that present far higher specs (sorry) than the alternatives from established brands like Meta.
- New Chinese smart glasses have eye-tracking
- Camera is 50MP when Meta manage 12 MP
- Technology is futuristic, trade rules will make them hard to get
The new Qwen Glasses N1 series boast a 50MP camera sensor, which is a long way in advance of the 12 megapixels that even the Meta Ray-Ban Gen 3 camera glasses offer.
But these glasses, launching at 3,499 RMB (just under $500 US), have a much more impressive trick up their sleeve: they have an eye-tracking functionality (achieved using a tiny 1.7mm camera facing the user). This means the connected AI can see what you're looking at (what direction your eyes are pointing) and respond accordingly.
The more accurate the AI's understanding of your request, the less frustrating it is to use.
The camera can also see enough resolution to use your iris for biometric payment confirmation. Assuming, that is, you feel happy enabling Alipay and just buying things by looking at a QR code. Me? I might leave this feature turned off!
That's not all. Admittedly this is just taking the company's word for it thus far, but a 25 hour standby time or nine hours of music play comfortably beats the Meta equivalents, while all looking even more discrete (for those not desparate to feature the Ray-Ban logo on the side of their face, anyhow).
Before you dismiss them as cheap Chinese junk, it's worth noting that the ear-buds are co-engineered with Bose, too, so there are some names that sceptical Westerners will have to accept.
Not, of course, that there will be much competition – Alibaba and Meta are currently quite closed markets. But now, like drones, the Chinese market seems to be getting the cleverest and newest tech for less.
For now, however, my guide to the best smart glasses will stick to covering things available more broadly.
