Over the past few years, several technology executives have said that glasses could become the next interface for consumer hardware. However, today’s smart glasses, even with good hardware, rely heavily on mobile phones. Realities’ G2 smart glasses are in the same boat. These luxurious glasses feature a neon-style head-up display that can be viewed in any lighting. However, its functionality relies heavily on connectivity to your phone, so it can be unreliable and frustrating.
Even Realities takes a different approach to smart glasses than players like Meta. Their devices have a monochromatic heads-up display that displays text and information in green, making it look like a neon board.
There are no cameras or speakers, and this is by design. Companies want to focus on productivity rather than recording, so you don’t have to worry about people around you being recorded.
The G2 is Even Realities’ second pair of smart glasses and is an improvement over the G1 released a few years ago. The G2 features a brighter 1,200 nits display (compared to the G1’s 1,000 nits), four microphones (2), and a 75% larger display area than its predecessor. The new display also has a better refresh rate of 60Hz compared to the G1’s 20Hz.
In the few months I’ve been using the G2, the connectivity with my phone has improved tremendously. In the beginning, my glasses would disconnect from the app so often that I almost gave up. However, after a few app updates, this issue has been improved.
These glasses are aimed at people who constantly attend meetings, give presentations and travel to countries where different languages are spoken.
design
Available in two frame designs, the glasses are extremely lightweight at just 35g. The frame is made of magnesium alloy, and the temples (the part of the arm that touches the ear) are made of titanium alloy. It was comfortable to wear in terms of weight and fit.
But since I work from home most of the time, I haven’t really felt the need to wear it all day. That said, the lenses do have built-in UV protection, so smart features or not, they’re worth wearing outdoors just for eye protection.
The company claims that based on typical usage, the G2’s battery can last up to two days on a single charge. The glasses come with a protective case and can be recharged up to seven times without being plugged in. I haven’t personally tested the two-day claim, but the battery lasted long enough for me to put it back in the case without running out of juice.
The case is large so you won’t be able to fit it in your pocket, but it is sturdy and fits your glasses perfectly.
Features and Operation
The glasses serve as your companion for accessing your calendar, reminders, and notes. You can wake it up by tapping the stem-based control. Double-tapping the stem’s control pad brings up a dashboard with information about upcoming meetings, stocks, top news, and more.
The G2 can also show real-time phone notifications, but the pop-ups aren’t always reliable, and since my phone is usually within reach anyway, I didn’t get to use this feature much.
Long-pressing the temple control opens a menu with several features: notification tray, translation, chat, teleprompt, to-do list, navigation, and more. Translate allows you to set your target language and communicate with anyone. At the recent GCS (Global Connect Show) held in China, I wore glasses and gave a demo to company representatives, and the translation was so good that I could follow along when someone spoke Chinese. We also tried it with other journalists who spoke different languages, including French and Spanish. (The downside to this feature is that the other person won’t know what you’re saying in your language unless they’re also using the app.)
Navigation is a nice feature that shows turn-by-turn directions on the head-up display. Problem: Doesn’t work with Google or Apple Maps. Instead, you’ll need to set up your route through the Even Realities app. I went to a cafe near my house and tried it a few times. Directions were displayed well on the display, but I couldn’t trust them in places where I didn’t know how to get there because the app kept entering the wrong address. Still, if the company fixes the accuracy issues, I can see cyclists and motorcyclists finding this feature useful.
Conversate initially displayed conversations in real time on the glasses, but this felt pointless since you can easily record meetings using an app or an external note-taker. The company later added a “preparation notes” feature that showed more context. You can manually add notes or documents ahead of the meeting and have AI reference them during the conversation, or listen in real time and have short explanation bubbles pop up when a concept comes to mind. For example, during a briefing on energy, a ‘green hydrogen’ balloon was shown, and when I tapped it, a definition appeared right before my eyes. It was really useful. But I don’t want a transcript or an explanation bubble for every conversation I have.
At the heart of it all is Even AI, a built-in assistant. Like other voice assistants, you can activate it by saying the wake word and ask questions or add items to your to-do list. My to-do list requests were often misunderstood, and for general questions, answers were often interrupted or streamed across the screen in long, unskippable paragraphs.
Another problem: Despite having four microphones, even the AI often fails to activate them or mishears me when I’m outside. Ambient noise in India may have played a part, but I still expect newer devices to have better noise handling.
The G2’s screen was readable in most conditions, but bright rooms required manual adjustment of brightness through the app. Even if the company hasn’t yet built an automatic brightness sensor, it would be nice to have manual brightness control built into the glasses themselves instead of requiring a phone app.
Do not insert the R1 ring.
Along with the G2, they also released a companion ring called the R1. The idea is to control the glasses through the touch surface of the ring instead of the touch controls on the glasses themselves. However, its price and features do not justify the cost.
The ring works well and I haven’t had any problems using it. But I had a hard time finding a scenario where I actually needed it, since the glasses’ touch-sensitive temples already perform the same function.
Plus, Even has health tracking features built into the ring, including heart rate, calories, steps, sleep, and SpO2 (blood oxygen level). Personally, if you want a form factor with health tracking features, I recommend choosing a dedicated ring like the Oura or Ultrahuman. Second, if you’re already using a fitness tracker, you probably don’t want to buy a ring where your health is a secondary function of a ring that regulates your glass.
All of these features bring the price of the ring to $249, which is not cheap. If you use smart glasses a lot, you might want to consider purchasing a cheap controller ring that also includes a microphone so you can give commands to the AI assistant. As it stands, I’ll skip R1.
Where does Even G2 stand?
Smart glasses are coming out fast. Camera-equipped, screen-less models like the Meta Ray-Bans are popular, but Meta, Snap and other competitors are also competing to make glasses with color screens. Only a few Chinese companies, such as Rokid and Inmo, are making glasses with the same neon display style.
The Even G2 costs $599 and offers sturdy hardware in a lightweight, handsome frame. The company is also working to make the glasses more customizable by supporting third-party apps, but I haven’t found any that are compelling enough to make me use the glasses more often. It’s a great app to have. If you like tinkering with new hardware and don’t mind trying third-party apps, it’s fun to explore.
The hardware itself is good, but it’s hard to find clear everyday use cases for these smart glasses outside of tasks that require constant translation or teleprompting.
Even is convinced that skipping the camera and speakers is the right move for a device focused on productivity, and I disagree with that direction. But now that the company has newly reached unicorn status, it needs to build more of its software to create glasses that people actually use every day.
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