Double 11 Smart Glasses Shopping Guide: Should You Buy Light Waveguide, Shooting, or Audio Glasses? This Article Has All the Answers
As usual, the annual Double Eleven e-commerce promotion kicked off on schedule in late October. As the last large-scale, full-category e-commerce promotion before the Chinese New Year and coinciding with the "update season" of digital products, it's not hard to see that Double Eleven is also one of the best times of the year to buy digital products.
Take the smart glasses category that Xiaolei has been following as an example. After years of development, the smart glasses category has evolved from the early concept - testing stage to a mature stage with stable functions and differentiated technologies. From waveguide display to image shooting, and then to audio - based interaction, products following different development paths are all trying to find their own use cases. It can be said that this Double Eleven will be the real "highlight moment" for smart glasses.
Image source: Lei Technology
So, at this current time, which smart glasses products are worth considering?
Waveguide AI - Guided Glasses: High - priced but with the Most Complete Experience
Undoubtedly, smart glasses based on the waveguide solution have always been the products with the strongest "futuristic feel". Brands like Rokid and StarV have been deeply involved in this field for many years, and they are offering significant discounts this Double Eleven, bringing these devices, which were originally targeted at early adopters, closer to ordinary consumers.
Take Rokid Glasses as an example. As a leading product in the domestic waveguide AI glasses category, Rokid has solved the common problem of insufficient brightness in early AR glasses based on the glass diffractive waveguide solution.
Image source: Rokid
Moreover, as an "all - around AI glasses", Rokid Glasses is also one of the first products to incorporate a camera into waveguide smart glasses, pioneering a complete "input - output" operation experience for glasses. In Xiaolei's horizontal evaluation of AI glasses, Rokid Glasses' "able to shoot and view" solution has successfully made it stand out among a series of AI glasses.
For instance, most shooting AI glasses on the market have incorporated multi - modality and large visual models, allowing users to trigger photo - taking via voice and automatically recognize the content in the photos. However, due to the issue of the shooting angle, most VLM (Visual Large Models) are unclear about the focus of the shot. Rokid Glasses has a very smart approach: after the photo - taking action is triggered by voice or a button, the glasses will display a simple "viewfinder frame", and users can aim the viewfinder frame at whatever they want to shoot.
Additionally, the addition of display (visual output) capabilities has also given Rokid Glasses more diverse interaction methods. For example, when receiving a WeChat message or text, instead of waiting for the AI to announce the name of a WeChat group with a dozen characters or the full number like "1069XXXXXXXX", we just need to glance at the upper - right corner, and the unread messages will be clear at a glance.
Image source: Lei Technology
However, if you don't have much need for photo - taking in daily life, the Xingji Meizu StarV Air2, which also uses waveguide technology, is also worth considering. Although it is a bit more expensive, StarV Air2 also has good waveguide display effects and a low learning curve. Meanwhile, StarV Air2 is one of the few smart glasses with a low - square frame on the market. If you don't like the current mainstream D - frame or Wellington frame, StarV Air2 will be your top choice.
However, although the waveguide technology has made significant progress in recent years, there are still some imperfections in the current technology:
The imaging principle of waveguide technology determines that the field of view (FoV) of such glasses is generally small, still far from the envisioned "immersive experience". Moreover, due to the complex reflection path of light in the lenses, phenomena such as rainbow edges and uneven brightness still occur. In addition, when the waveguide glasses are displaying, there will also be obvious green light on the front of the glasses (single - green waveguide solution).
On the other hand, the cost issue of waveguide glasses remains prominent. The waveguide solution highly depends on high - precision diffraction grating processing and packaging technology, which directly leads to shortcomings such as low lens yield and high product prices. Even during Double Eleven, the price of several thousand yuan still exceeds the psychological expectations of ordinary consumers. Not to mention that waveguide smart glasses must be paired with additional clip - on or magnetic lenses to fit prescription degrees.
But considering the current development of smart glasses, if you have sufficient budget and are interested in the future form, Rokid Glasses and Xingji Meizu StarV Air2 are still the top choices during Double Eleven.
Shooting Glasses: Mature Category with Similar Functions
If you think the AI glasses based on the waveguide solution are a bit over your budget and you don't have much demand for the display function of smart glasses, "shooting - type" glasses are also worth considering. Different from all - around glasses, these shooting smart glasses focus on the concept of "recording life". They neither require a complex optical display module nor can achieve a lighter wearing experience in terms of hardware.
At this Double Eleven, the already - released Thunderbird V3, BleeqUp Range, and the Xingji Meizu StarV Snap, which is about to be released at the end of October, are, in my opinion, products worth recommending and considering.
Image source: Lei Technology
Let me first talk about the Thunderbird V3, which I bought at my own expense and have used for a long time. The glasses inherit the streamlined design and lightweight concept of traditional glasses, with the total weight of the glasses controlled to just over 50 grams, and they look almost the same as ordinary sunglasses. The "golden combination" of the AR1 platform and the IMX 681 also provides it with good comprehensive AI capabilities and video - shooting capabilities.
Based on Xiaolei's experience accumulated from half a year of intensive use, I think if you are not very sensitive to the battery life of smart glasses and can accept the charging frequency of two or three times a day, the Thunderbird V3 is indeed worth considering.
Image source: Xingji Meizu
The Xingji Meizu StarV Snap has not been released yet, and Xiaolei cannot give an absolutely certain purchase suggestion. But from the perspective of hardware design and architecture, the performance of StarV Snap should not differ too much from that of the Thunderbird V3. You can choose according to your preference for the glasses' design.
Image source: BleeqUp
In contrast, BleeqUp Range is a rather special product. The Thunderbird V3 and Xingji Meizu StarV Snap mentioned above are all smart AI glasses targeting general life scenarios, while BleeqUp Range is a shooting sports smart glasses targeting sports scenarios.
Considering energy efficiency, BleeqUp Range does not use the commonly - used AR1 platform for shooting smart glasses, so its AI capabilities are slightly inferior to other AI shooting glasses. However, the low - power platform has brought an extremely long shooting battery life to BleeqUp Range - BleeqUp has even designed an external weighted battery that can be hung behind a bicycle helmet, easily achieving 8 hours of shooting time.
In addition, BleeqUp Range also has the strongest video anti - shake ability among the smart glasses I've experienced, making it especially suitable for outdoor scenarios such as cycling. Moreover, the deep integration of BleeqUp Range with the bicycle accessory ecosystem has left a group of "life smart glasses" far behind. Obviously, BleeqUp Range is not suitable for wearing out on a daily basis; but if you are a cycling enthusiast and not very sensitive to the relatively high price of BleeqUp Range, then BleeqUp Range is indeed worth considering.
Audio Glasses: Lowest Price, Entry - Level Toys
If both the waveguide and shooting solutions exceed your price expectations, don't worry, we still have AI audio smart glasses. In essence, AI audio glasses are just glasses integrated with Bluetooth earphone functions. So, looking at the bright side, the price of these products is similar to that of ordinary open - ear headphones. Meanwhile, since these glasses do not require a complex computing platform, AI audio glasses also have technological advantages in terms of lightweight design and battery life that other products can hardly catch up with.
As of now, the Jiehuan and MiJia audio glasses are relatively worth considering during this year's Double Eleven. Considering that MiJia audio glasses are also manufactured by Jiehuan, it's actually okay to directly recommend Jiehuan's glasses here.
Image source: Jiehuan
Based on Xiaolei's experience during this period, Jiehuan's glasses focus on lightweight design, comfortable wearing, and long battery life. In addition, the modular design of Jiehuan glasses (the temples are the main body of the smart device, and the frames can be freely disassembled and matched) also gives it a high degree of freedom.
Due to its long battery life and extremely light weight (pure - titanium frame version), Xiaolei plans to replace the Thunderbird V3, which has been used for half a year, with the Jiehuan smart glasses with fewer functions. In the view of Lei Technology, if you only want the glasses to function as "earphones" and pursue convenient commuting, long battery life, and good sound quality, Jiehuan smart glasses should be the best starting point for you to experience smart glasses.
But from the long - term development perspective of smart glasses, these "lightweight" smart glasses are actually more like a compromise product of brands under the current technological limitations. Lei Technology believes that as long as the display and battery technologies mature in the future, "all - around smart glasses" led by Rokid Glasses will surely completely replace "lightweight" glasses like Jiehuan, just as low - priced smart watches have replaced smart bracelets, promoting market upgrading through product evolution.
However, from another perspective, no one can be sure when such a "future" will arrive. But considering this year's Double Eleven situation, even the simplest AI audio glasses have their own technological advantages and "experience moats". In the smartphone field, it's difficult to rate one phone as the best; we can only find the one "most suitable for ourselves". The same applies to the smart glasses category.
Image source: Lei Technology
After all, making AI glasses look cooler is never the ultimate goal of technological development. Making people live more comfortably and freely is the real meaning of technology and digital products.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Lei Technology", author: Lei Technology, published by 36Kr with authorization.