North Focals Review: Stealthy, Stylish Smart Glasses
Focals are currently only available after two in-person fittings (for more on North's detailed fitting process, see our first hands-on with Focals) in their Brooklyn, New York or Toronto, Canada stores. The trip is tempting as Focals cross a huge smart glasses barrier by offering functionality in a form that stands a good (but not perfect) chance of passing for regular glasses. However, while we enjoy apps like Amazon Alexa and Weather, more apps and better image quality would make the $999 / $1,200 CAD price tag (with or without prescription lenses) more forgivable.
Focals use a Qualcomm APQ8009w system-on-a-chip (SoC), which runs on four Arm Cortex A7 CPU cores at a clock speed of up to 1.09GHz. The SoC is marketed for smartwatches, with features like Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity and a Qualcomm Adreno 304 GPU.
[...] The left arm of my review sample is bare black on the outside, while the inside subtly reads "Focals by NORTH" near the temple and "CLASS 1 LASER PRODUCT" near the tip. The right arm is also bare on the outside. The inside, however, holds the holographic display projector, which uses a display technology called retinal projection to project photons, or light, or raster graphics, onto the retina. When the projector is activated, it's not visible from the outside. It projects images onto the right eye only. This advanced retina display also calls for precise measurements in the aforementioned fitting process.
On the bottom of the right arm is a small square area for connecting the charger, a small speaker/microphone and the power button.
The Loop controller ring comes in black and is mostly made of polycarbonate with gold-plated charging contacts. You'll hear a clicking noise in the glasses every time you use the joystick, unless you turn all sound off.
[...] The most impressive part of Focals' is that no one will know when you're using apps, since the AR display is only visible to the wearer. It works by creating red, green and blue light that is manipulated to make text and images the Focals' projector sends out. Next, there's a holographic lens in the right eye that's embedded with a transparent film designed to interact with red, green and blue wavelengths only. Everything else passes through. According to North, "when our specific wavelengths of light hit the transparent film, it acts like a mirror and bounces the light back towards your eye placing the image directly in your line of sight where only you can see it."
[...] After playing with the Focals for 5 continuous minutes at maximum brightness and volume, the right arm's hottest point was 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 degrees Fahrenheit).
No cameras, no wireless charging. Lame.
Previously: Intel's Vaunt Augmented Reality Smartglasses Concept Lives on at Canadian Company North
Related Stories
North has acquired the patents and tech behind Intel's Vaunt AR glasses
North, the company behind the Focals AR glasses, has acquired the "technology portfolio" behind another set of AR [Augmented Reality] glasses, the cancelled Intel Vaunt glasses. The company wouldn't disclose the terms of the deal, but Intel Capital is a major investor in North and led its last financing round in 2016. Both Focals and Vaunt had the same basic idea: use a tiny laser embedded in the stem of your glasses to project a reflected image directly into your retina. Unlike other AR and VR [Virtual Reality] efforts, the goal is to create a pair of glasses you'd actually want to wear — something that looks relatively normal and doesn't weigh too much.
[...] Focals have the same basic idea as Vaunt but are actually set to ship to consumers fairly soon. The Canadian company already has a couple of stores where you can select the right style of glasses. But more importantly, you need to get them fitted, North says, because aligning the projector so you can see the image requires that the glasses be adjusted for your face.
[...] North CEO and co-founder Stephen Lake tells me that his company is acquiring 230 patents or applications along with some "technology and assets," which will mean the company should have over 650 patents by the end of the year.
[...] In some ways, North's Focals are a little more advanced than the Intel Vaunt prototypes I tried back in February. The image it displays is slightly larger and displays in full color instead of Vaunt's red monochrome. But Intel had some tech that North wanted, Lake tells me that the Vaunt team "did a lot of work in MEMs technology and the optics related to that." More specifically, Intel seems to have done a lot of work to miniaturize the display system.
Lake says that North is acquiring the patents for future versions of Focals and not to go on a lawsuit spree. "It's really about a defensive position," he says. Intel also had done work related to the core interface of using AR glasses. The patents North is acquiring cover "everything from new techniques, user interfaces, to ways to interact with the glasses."
Also at TechCrunch.
Previously: Intel Unveils "Vaunt" Smartglasses
Intel Abandons Vaunt AR (Augmented Reality) Smartglasses
In 2020, smart glasses may start looking totally normal
It doesn't pay to be an early adopter. Smart glasses maker North, which developed a pair of glasses called Focals earlier this year, has just announced an updated version for 2020. That means the first Focals, which displayed notifications via a retinal-projection technology that looked like a tiny pop-up window in one eye, are being discontinued, the company says.
The improved glasses promise to be 40% lighter and have 10 times the display resolution of the first version. "We spent the last year in the market learning how to build, sell and support smart glasses with our first-gen product, that we now will combine with over five years of research working on the technology upgrades in Focals 2.0," Steven Lake, North CEO, said in a press release.
Meanwhile, Magic Leap has struggled to move its Magic Leap One Creator Edition headsets despite over $2.6 billion in funding:
The Information today published an in-depth report about Magic Leap's state of affairs. Most notable is how it apparently only sold 6,000 Magic Leap One Creator Edition headsets in the first six months.
Priced at $2,295, buyers get a "Lightwear" headset that connects to a puck-shaped "Lightpack" computer worn around their waist. CEO Rony Abovitz reportedly had an initial goal of 1 million devices in the first year before settling with 100,000.
Google Glass 3.0? Google acquires smart glasses maker North
Google Hardware's latest acquisition is North, a wearables computing company that most recently was making smart glasses that seemed like a successor to Google Glass. Google Hardware SVP Rick Osterloh announced the purchase on Google's blog, saying, "North's technical expertise will help as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts and ambient computing future."
North developed and released a pair of smart glasses called "Focals," which came the closest we've seen so far to smart glasses that looked like normal glasses. First, the company didn't neglect the "glasses" part of "smart glasses" and provided the frames in a range of styles, sizes, and colors, with support for prescription lenses. The technology was noticeably less invasive, too. Google Glass's display surface was a transparent block distractingly placed in front of the users' face, but Focal's display surface was the glasses' lens itself. A laser projector poked out from the thicker-than-normal temple arms and fired into the lens, which has a special coating, allowing the projection to reflect light into the eye.
[...] Google's smart glasses contribution was, of course, the infamous Google Glass, which launched in 2012 and basically shut down as a consumer product about two years later. (North CEO Stephen Lake actually called Google Glass "a massive failure" in a 2019 tech talk. Awkward!) Most people would think of the product as dead, but Google quietly pivoted Glass to be an enterprise product for assembly-line workers, mechanics, doctors, and other professions that might benefit from hands-free computing. New Glass hardware came out as recently as 2019, with the "Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2," which featured a modern 10nm Qualcomm SoC. With Apple reportedly building a set of smart glasses, the consumer market will probably heat up again soon.
It's back.
Also at BBC.
Previously: Google Glass 'Enterprise Edition': Foldable, More Rugged and Water-Resistant
Intel Abandons Vaunt AR (Augmented Reality) Smartglasses
Intel's Vaunt Augmented Reality Smartglasses Concept Lives on at Canadian Company North
"North Focals" $1000 Smartglasses Reviewed
Related: Apple Glasses Leaks and Rumors: Here's Everything We Expect to See
(Score: 2) by YeaWhatevs on Thursday February 07 2019, @06:42PM (4 children)
Looks like the graphics aren't all that great and they don't do AR, but it's an improvement.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:00PM (3 children)
You need a camera, or better yet 2 cameras, to do AR.
I'm confident that the cameras could be blended into a black frame or otherwise hidden, to avoid lunatics going into assault mode.
The damn thing has a quad-core CPU in it, but not much for it to do.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday February 07 2019, @08:17PM (2 children)
>lunatics going into assault mode.
While I'm unlikely to go into "assault mode", I must say that I rather strongly disapprove of public surveillance devices myself, and can completely understand why some people get especially aggrieved when they're worn into bathrooms and other situations where a certain amount of discretion is normally assumed. Just for the perv-factor alone - do you really believe pervs *wouldn't* take advantage of the ability to take photos undetected?
Pervs aside, it might be different if the camera feed were somehow isolated from the internet, but as it is all of these devices make full continuous surveillance streams available to the manufacturer, governments, criminals, and any other hacker who chooses to access it.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday February 08 2019, @06:22AM (1 child)
https://www.zetronix.com/hidden-covert-cams/spy-pens.html [zetronix.com]
What do you do when someone walks in with a pen in their pocket?
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday February 08 2019, @02:41PM
If I recognize it's a surveillance device? Express my disapproval.
Also, spy pens and other such gadgets are usually not internet-connected, so you only have to worry about the malfeasance of the person carrying it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by captain_nifty on Thursday February 07 2019, @06:46PM
So it works by selectively reflecting a laser directly onto the users eye.
What could possibly go wrong?
(Score: 2, Touché) by John-S on Thursday February 07 2019, @06:51PM
And the weather app will give you a clear view of what's outside your window provided your standing in front of your window.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:18PM (5 children)
The manufacturer have learned one important feature to not add: a camera. Google got burned on that.
The device is not yet ready for a mass market: it heats up, it has low resolution, you cannot choose the eye, you cannot select both and have stereo overlay, you have limited selection of corrective lenses, no eye tracking, no wireless charging, face measurements needed for ordering. Perhaps, it is already acceptable for some users (a Lyft|Uber driver?); but the majority of potential customers has no need for a 200x200 pixels screen, we got used to 2000 pixels. I have seen a HUD with 1024x768, it was pretty nice. Something like that will be popular.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:34PM (4 children)
Maybe some people will find smartglasses useful without a camera. But it is certainly a lot less useful. No photos, videos, or AR.
The problem with Google Glass is that you looked like a Borg while wearing it. If this thing had a noticeable display (no retinal beaming) but no camera, people would still probably get attacked over it.
The solution is to hide or miniaturize the cameras (there should be two of them).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @08:44PM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 07 2019, @10:12PM (1 child)
Eventually it will [soylentnews.org] come [darpa.mil], and then there'll be no more excuses.
But is 44°C/111°F a deal breaker? This page [anandtech.com] suggests 40°C/104°F as a limit for comfortable skin temperature.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @02:00AM
When it comes, I will buy and others will buy. Not a problem. Just make them.
With regard to +44°C, I do not know if that is even close to being a deal killer. The other deficiencies are more important, the low resolution is first among them. Make it close to a modern screen, so that we can read a common text. Camera is highly optional for me personally, unless it's AR.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday February 08 2019, @06:29AM
Any lag at all is a dealbreaker for AR. The way around it is to pipe the video direct to the screen, not process it. You process and add the overlay as a separate stream. Having labels appear on things 50ms late doesn't matter, but being 5ms late with the field of view does.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:21PM (2 children)
When I saw the headline I was hoping this about my fantasy product: "glasses" that have an actively adjustable lens and some form of frame mounted distance measuring module which would allow the lenses to autofocus based on what you are looking at. Something like this: https://www.coolthings.com/adlens-eyeglasses/ [coolthings.com] except you get an eye exam, program certain values for different distances, and the lenses use the measured distance to make the change.
Now THAT would be smartglasses!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @10:01PM (1 child)
Add porn and I'm in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @02:03AM
Being able to see porn without squinting ought to be enough for anyone.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by stretch611 on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:22PM (1 child)
Wow I thought, $1,000... thats pretty expensive just for some geeky tech.
Then I remembered the cost of recent iPhones...
Okay, $1000 is quite cheap for some specced out glasses.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:44PM
Not just iPhones: many frames at the optometrist's run $800 - $1200 nowadays.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:35PM
"However, while we enjoy apps like Amazon Alexa..."
lmao. tom's hardware are hilarious windows using slaves.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:53PM (4 children)
Am I the only one looking at the awful, horrible, backlit to hell photo at the top of the article and wondering who the idiot was that decided that shot was good enough?
Maybe they ran out of film in their only camera?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Captival on Thursday February 07 2019, @10:30PM
It's Uncle Tom's Hardware. They threw quality and objectivity out the window in their haste to sell out. A few months ago, their expert recommendation for the new 2000-series Nvidia cards was "just shut up and buy it" despite the fact that they cost $1000+ and had next to no benefit over the current series.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday February 08 2019, @01:16AM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday February 08 2019, @01:41AM (1 child)
I'm sticking with the "ran out of film" theory.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday February 08 2019, @03:45PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves