ECHO FRAMES: THE SMART GLASSES ACCORDING TO AMAZON
Smart glasses have always been one of the main objectives of many tech companies. The wearable par excellence, indispensable for many, is well suited to be combined with technology. Among more or less successful attempts, many have tried, but only one company seems to have achieved its goal.
Despite its simplicity, Amazon's Echo Frames are an already
well-established reality, already marketed in the United States and ready in
the future to land in the rest of the world, even in Italy. Are they the right
product to give the green light to a new type of eyewear ?
The new generation
The Echo Frames were presented about a year ago and, after
an experimentation phase limited to a few selected users, they are finally
ready to be marketed. Pre-orders have been in the United States for some time
now with deliveries starting to arrive on December 10th . The look is in all
respects the same as that of ordinary eyeglasses: the lenses can be graduated
or sunglasses and the frames will be available in three colors, black, blue and
tortoiseshell.
What American users will have in their hands will be the
second generation of Echo Frames, characterized by a much more performing
battery and sold at a price of around $ 250.; the lucky users who instead
participated in the experimentation of the first generation will be able to
purchase the new version for only 70 dollars. Still little news on the possible
spread in the rest of the world and in Italy, but we believe it is only a
matter of time before the product leaves the American borders.
More than just glasses
What is hidden under the appearance of these ordinary
glasses? The password chosen by Amazon for this product could undoubtedly be
"simplicity". No amazing technological choices, no daring aesthetic
solutions: the Echo Frames are above all glasses, created to perform their
primary function first of all . No futuristic tricks in the style of Google
Glass, no attempt to implement a sort of augmented reality; what makes these
glasses smart is their bluetooth connection, their microphone and their sound
diffusion system.
The Frames are real portable voice assistants, capable of
interfacing directly with Alexaand connect to the smartphones of those who own
them. This will transform them into real wireless headphones, with the
possibility of making calls, listening to music, giving voice commands and
performing all those "hands-free" functions that voice assistants
allow.
Invisible assistant
What we wanted to create is a product that offers its
functions without even letting us notice its presence. Less bulky than a pair
of headphones, the Frames will do everything they can to not make their
presence noticed. Hence the very interesting function created by Amazon for
this second generation: the glasses, in fact, will automatically adjust their
volume according to the ambient noise that surrounds them. We will always hear
what the glasses have to tell us and they will hear our commands smoothly
regardless of the noise that surrounds the environment in which we move.
We will not have to uncomfortably tinker with the device to
adjust its volume, since it will be the one to think about it automatically.
Amazon has worked a lot on the audio system of the product, which is quite complex
since it is not in direct contact with the ear. What is promised is always
clear and quality audio , which can only be heard by the wearer of the glasses
and by no one else.
Smart assistant
The implementations made in terms of battery life are also
important. Compared to the first models, a 40% increase in duration is promised
, with numerous smart options to reduce consumption and make sure that the
glasses do not need to be recharged too often. For this reason, a function has
been designed that completely deactivates any smart function when the glasses
are placed upside down on a surface for more than three seconds. The Frames
realize that they are not being worn and therefore turn off automatically,
another interesting function that makes these glasses real autonomous
technological objects, which perform all their functions without the need for
too many external interactions by the user.
The rest of the functions are those already available with
the Alexa voice assistant or the various Google Assistants and Siri: you can
manage notifications in order of priority, making sure that the glasses speak
only for the important things, you can decide to respond to calls from some
rather than others, you can control all the smart functions of our homes.
In short, everything that voice assistants do will be within
reach of voice, in the most natural way possible. It will be enough for us to
speak to have everything we want at hand , without the clutter of always having
to have our smartphone or smart speaker in our hands in the same room we are
in.
Alexa everywhere
Made of carbon fiber and titanium, the Frames are offered to
the user as valuable glasses, equipped with many technological features but
which do not aesthetically show their smart heart. They look like glasses and
they are in all respects: contrary to what one might think they want to be
first of all glasses and then portable voice assistants . What Bezos and
associates want to achieve is to make their Alexa a company that is always
present in the everyday life of users. Where to activate a voice assistant of a
smartphone it is often necessary to have the screen of your phone under an eye,
Alexa offers an experience already natively associated with hearing only and
not with sight.
Its first and peculiar location was the home of the users,
with the voice traveling in the room without any visual support: having it
always at hand in a personal audio reproduction system is a goal of no small
importance, even more so if what users will wear will not be bulky and
insulating headphones, but glasses to always wear and able, with extreme
naturalness, to always keep the doors of the Alexa world open .
The glasses of the future
This wanting to be simple and invisible, this offering
something more to everyday life could represent the trump card of the
technology of the future, as well as the redemption of smart glasses in the
eyes of users . To win the challenge of this new technology it was necessary to
completely set aside the philosophy from which Google had started with its
bankruptcy Glasses. We weren't ready for such bulky and "insulating"
glasses and technology was unable to efficiently accompany augmented reality. A
failure across the board that had put any ambition to turn eyewear into
something more into oblivion. Only Huawei had believed it with the Gentle X
Monsters .
Returning to glasses their main function with the addition
of some technological pluses perfectly in line with what is already offered to
us today by other devices is a more than winning card, the one that could make
smart glasses objects to buy for all those who they usually use eyewear and
they will find products that not only perform their original function but that
also give something more, offering that technological integration today at the
basis of the success of so many ecosystems.
Those who cannot see well from afar or those who do not read
closely may finally no longer be so dissatisfied with having to wear glasses:
that the Echo Frames have managed to transform a problem into an opportunity?
