What's the value proposition relative to the alternatives?

It is adding weight, complexity, and limiting choice to your eye-wear while effectively doing a similar thing to half a dozen wireless earbuds already on the market. It isn't really comparable to Google Glass, because Google Glass used projection onto the glasses themselves (creating a unique value).

Plus Amazon are trying to integrate with the US's predominant eye wear monopoly (via insurance/out-of-network frames) instead of just bypassing it and producing the lenses themselves. So you're paying $179.99 for empty frames and then untold amounts for the actual lenses, and trying to ingrate with an insurance system that's designed to benefit only Luxottica (via their stranglehold of both insurance companies AND lens producers).

> Now you can hear notifications and alerts, turn on compatible smart lights, or call a friend, all without pulling out your phone. They’re designed to keep you in the moment—so you never miss one.

wow, I just had to laugh at this marketing-speak... "designed to keep you in the moment with even more distractions"

>> Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider, these getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculator pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. [...] The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time.

~sigh~

Snow Crash - like 1984 - was a warning, not a manual for building the future.

> Echo Frames are designed to protect your privacy.

That page is careful to always say "protect your privacy". The privacy of everyone else in range of the microphone apparently isn't even worth mentioning. That responsibility is implicitly (and silently) pushed onto the user.

Regardless of the value proposition of this product, can we take a moment to appreciate that these glasses have way more going on in them while also costing about the same as luxottica frames?

What a racket

I don't understand why it has to be glasses, when the important bit is just a microphone and speaker, and there is no display capability. Would something like AirPods work just as well? According to the website the glasses are light-weight, so they can't hide huge amounts of battery-storage in them either (unless they're not being entirely truthful).

edit: Okay, I just saw that they have Echo Buds too. So I guess this is only for people who already wear glasses, or prefer them for some reason.

I was gifted an Alexa and disconnected it after the first day. Whatever minor convenience it offers aren't worth the massive privacy risks.

That's what bothers me so much about all these gadgets and apps. They don't even offer anything revolutionary. Just a handful of gimmicks and evolutionary improvements to things you could already do.

Yet people are happy giving up their privacy for it.

It's not that hard to add tasks to your to-do list manually. Or to switch on your table lamp by hand.

I'm really conscious of sharing half my conversation with something. I don't even like talking on the phone in public. Not a fan of all these devices that are only powered by voice.

I really wish Google Glass had been a success.

I have never seen anyone say "Hey Google, Hey Siri, etc" in public, don't think this product will do well

Eventually this will evolve into a system where you can just think of what u want and an AI assistant will go and do it for you, optionally presenting results within your field of vision, or if you're not an oldtimer, directly to your brain

Amazon is now throwing Alexa at the wall to see what sticks. I don’t see how this made past the initial pitch.

Looks just like Bose frames. I haven't used Echo Frames but I own and have used the Bose frames and constantly pair them up with Google Assistant on my phone.

Here's a few opinions on my experience:

- The glasses look bulky but don't feel it

- The sound system is pretty decent, I can listen to music and take phone calls and the audio will be crystal clear

- I don't like the fact that if I raise the volume everyone can hear what I am listening to, this is particularly bad for phone calls but even when listening to Google Assistant giving me the weather forecast rundown can become a problem for others around (not me obviously - but people who think I just have really loud invisible headphones in my ears)

- Battery life can be better, it's not terrible but it's still a bluetooth device that needs to be in touch with your phone to work so it's not too bad ultimately! Depends how much music you will listen to..

- Lack of camera sucks hard: I could think of 200 use-cases for having a camera, instead I have to raise my phone and use Google magic glass to scan QR codes or to translate text. Shame :(

- Did I mention they just look bulky?

Overall they're nice and rather useful in some very specific situations, I love biking with them (they're protecting my eyes from UV properly according to Bose) and I love going for walks around the park wearing them - but only when I am alone and not too many people around so I don't look like I've got bees in my ears. Yes the buzzing can be annoying for people who walk beside you. (Or maybe that's a good thing, if you don't wanna hear your friend complain about how the price of their favorite beer went up another half a dollar here in Austin. /sarcasm)

To all the people who don't like/freak out about their data being harvested: would you use such a device, if it is completely open (both hardware and software) and the data is under your control?

Direct competition for https://www.bynorth.com/focals. Not sure how North (fka Thalmic Labs) competes?

"Eye"glasses which do nothing related to your eyes. At least Google Glass had a display.

Can I just have a display? Pretty please? Doesn't have to be high resolution, it doesn't have to have much intelligence other than connecting to my phone.

We just need magic-mirror-like glasses that don't look like you have been captured by a Borg cube.

"Google Glass, but only the creepy bits."

Uhh.. I would love to have been involved in the product design meetings for this one.

The problem with Google glass was just the camera! We can do it better!

I’m not willing to carry around a corporation controlled microphone on my face.

The only voice recognition I am comfortable with would run on open source software on hardware I owned and physically possessed. I have looked and this doesn’t seem to really exist.

If anyone visits Japan, I highly recommend visiting

http://www.fournines.co.jp/collections/2020/

The Frames are absolutely the best I have ever seen in my life. They can get expensive but absolutely worth it. Got a pair of these that are made of titanium. They are so light you forget you even have glasses on.

http://www.fournines.co.jp/products/detail233.html

They may have a shop in California.

I'd rather they worked on making regular prescription eyeglasses and frames less expensive. That would help a lot more people and could still be profitable considering the huge markups on frames now.

It would be nice to have hearing aids based on this concept. That way you can hide a nice microphone, larger batteries and a better DSP chip.

> And with no camera or display, you stay in the moment.

In other words, no one will ban you from their bar like they did when you wore your Google Glass.

I might be interested in these if they offered bone conduction speakers like some sunglasses, since "bone conduction glasses with prescription lenses" isn't a product anyone has yet successfully launched.

>Amazon open-ear technology directs sound to your ears and minimizes what others can hear.

That just sounds like bullshit-speak for "earbuds hanging outside of your ears".

Sadly, I don't think we could allow these at my workplace. We sometimes discuss secret things.

It would be cool to be able to attach it to different frames. The default one looks low quality.

I really don't understand why anyone would want any of these new Alexa products, your phone has all the same capabilities and it only takes an extra 4 seconds to pull your phone out and talk to Siri or Whichever other voice assistant you prefer.

No one seems to be addressing the fact that these frames are just damn ugly.

Luxottica, while a profiteering monopoly, at least has a zillion different styles. And would you spoil the look of your $500 glasses with some clip on doodad?

Literally my first thought was, "is this a repost from April 1st?"

So if google glass people were glassholes what do we call alexa people ?

I'm assuming this uses some sort of bone conduction to allow you to hear alexa without having to have earbuds, but still keeping it quiet to others. I wonder how well it's implemented.

One thing that seems to be lost here: this is an early-adopter product. It's entirely possible this is little more than an R+D product subsidized by those who want to participate.

Awesome! Now Amazon can listen in on my conversations even when I’m away from home! And as a bonus they can hear everything anyone I’m near says, too!

I’d question why someone would get this over Alexa-powered earbuds. The obvious benefit is this is “always on” your face and earbuds that are only on X% of your waking day, but at least when you are alone it seems like most people would wear their buds/headphones enough of the day where no one would really feel like they would need it in their glasses over headphones. Headphones are also an easier sell to a wider population of users since they’re relevant to all vs a subset of people who need or want to wear glasses.

too much. alexa should stay on the phone. putting alexa on watches, eyeglasses, bicycles, cars, etc..is like trying to make other good things TOO ubiquitous. Imagine toilet paper packets for your purse, your wallet, your car, your office..

Promoting certain activities steals time and space away from other more appropriate activities.

You'd think in 2019 that they could think of another use besides managing a shopping list for the woman.

Is there a way to use bone conducting headphones with Alexa, such as the Trekz?

I wonder if Amazon reached out to Bose on this to collaborate.

Liked the way Amazon shipped this product. It’s definitely a prototype of mature version of smart glasses which can provide some useful insights about customer behavior.

Reminds me of Tilly from Paper Menagerie!!

Why not just headphones but glasses?

Another thread full of unsubstantial negativity and jokes. If I wanted to read comments like this I would go to reddit.

People with small bluetooth speakers strapped to their head blasting music for everyone to hear... great.

These seem terrible

Are there any legitimate glasses with a camera instead of a microphone?

Wonderful, now my data can be harvested wherever I go instead of just in the privacy of my own home

I'm sure these will ship before the Vue glasses I ordered from kickstarter...

Pretty much useless device.

Gross

Glassholes, but without the glass. Coming to you soon!

I immediately thought one use case where this might be extremely handy: for stock brokers.