I've had my fancy new glasses for a few weeks, now, and I thought now would be a good time to talk a little bit about them. I've been meaning to do a bit of a review--well, not really a "review," per se, but more of a reflection on what it's like to wear them, the pros and cons, and what I'd like to see, feature-wise. Yyyyyeah, a review, I guess. On this episode we're talking augmented reality glasses, specifically Focals by North. (Intro) And I should mention right up front that I'm getting no compensation from North to talk about these things, nor am I affiliated with them in any way. I'm just really excited about it and I'm lucky to have gotten my hands on a pair before they really poise themselves to enter the mainstream, which I hope they (or whatever follows them) do. So, first off, what are these things? ## WHAT ARE THEY To call them "augmented reality" isn't really telling the whole story, I think. I mean, they do fall in that category, but it's just as incomplete to simply call them "smart glasses," I feel. And, let's be honest, when we put the word "smart" in front of anything, what we typically mean is just that it's connected to the internet. My smart TV doesn't know what I want to watch any more than a "dumb" TV just because it's got wifi, after all. Physically speaking, they're just a pair of heavy glasses. Or maybe they're not that heavy. I only wear sunglasses so this might be a typical weight, I honestly don't know. The arms are a tad thick. Beyond that no one would ever know they're anything other than just some (kinda adorably dorky) glasses. And most of the time, you, as the wearer, aren't aware of them being anything else, either. There's a phenomenon known as "technological transparency" that addresses how much an interface (that is, any kind of medium through which there's human-computer interaction), more or less... receeds into the background. That is, that you forget there's any kind of mediation between you and what you're trying to accomplish. Think of a game console controller. The less you have to think about which button to push to make something happen in the game, the more quote unquote "transparent" that device is. So, when I say that the Focals have a bit of a "transparency" issue, I'm not talking about the glass; I'm talking about the fact that the devices themselves (the glasses and the ring) are ... present. But I'll come back to that in the "cons" section. North uses the following copy to describe them: "Focals bring together the best of eyewear and smartphones. Heads-up access to your digital life without checking your phone. Custom-made glasses with a display only you can see. Instant, yet discreet access to the information you need." And that's not wrong! It really is like having a heads-up display that only you can see and that alone is just so cool. ## PROS So, speaking of cool, let's talk about the pros. I mean... yeah, it's just cool. If you like being on the bleeding edge of consumer tech, this is about as close as you can get. And given the price, these are incredibly affordable for what you get. If you're spending $500 on a pair of prescription glasses, you can chuck another $200 at North and you'll get a pair of these. That's impressive, I think. I say that as a non-glasses-wearer, so keep the source in mind. Used to be that you'd have to physically go to one of their two locations TWICE to get sized and then fitted. Now you can do it all via an iPhone (and I imagine an Android soon). How handy is that? One of the biggest pros touted by North is a reduction in screen time usage with your phone. I, for one, am all about reducing the amount of time we not only stare at our devices (especially during social situations, which I think we've talked about on the pod before) but even how often we have them just physically out and in front of us, even on a table. And it's true: while wearing these, I really don't check my phone that much. At least, not nearly as much as I do when I'm not wearing them. That said, though it's different from aimlessly scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, I do find myself hitting the Loop button and checking the time frequently. Not because I forget... but because I'm so used to getting constant, persistent information. I no longer have to hold any amount of content in my head for any length of time... especially since now it's readily available at the discrete press of a button, appearing to float arm's length in the air in front of me. I'll leave it to you to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Without just running down the list of features Focals have (like weather and flight updates, access to Evernote and OneNote, integration with Google Fit and various todo-list apps, et cetera), I want to highlight a couple things I find myself using a lot. First is the Slack integration. If you're a long-time fan of the pod, you know that we use Slack heavily at our college. It's cut down on the time I spend checking and answering emails by orders of magnitude and I believe this is also true of many of my colleagues. The fact that a Slack notification comes up, and, with a couple clicks, I can either respond via voice-to-text or just throw in a smart reply (ie, "That's great" or "Okay") or an emoji is awesome. And since nobody can see that you're using it, you can look even more impressive but NOT having your computer or phone out during the meeting, but just staring down at your little notepad you brought with you and using that time to respond to things. Ssshhhh. It's our little secret, don't worry. I also use Spotify a lot since I work from home most of the time and like to have music going in the house. If I'm up and about, ie not sitting at my desk, the fact that I can see what's playing and control it with my Focals is awesome. I mean... it's just so darn convenient. Which brings me to Alexa, which is built-in. At any time I can long-press the Loop button and have Alexa start listening to me. I don't even have to say "Alexa." She listens to my command or question, does her thing, and if it requires a response, plays it back through the little speaker in the glasses that pretty much only I can hear. Likewise, going back to music for a second, another option with the long-press is to have Focals start listening to the ambient noise and identify a song that's playing, then tell you what it is. You don't even have to tell it anything... it requires no input from you, just pressing the button. Another thing that I find myself using pretty often is the morning briefing. While I'm waking up, grabbing coffee, shuffling around the house, I've got my Echo morning briefing playing in my ear, everything from whatever news updates I want to get each day to what calendar items I can expect to the weather for the day. It's nice that it's basically just for me and the rest of the house doesn't have to hear it coming from another device. I like my surroundings to be pretty calm and quiet for the most part, so this is perfect. I'm pushing 40 soon, so my health and activity level is becoming more and more of a priority, so having the Google Fit integration is really nice. I can see at a glance how I'm doing for move minutes and heart points for the day, number of steps, calories burned (though this is always wrong for every fitness app, essentially), and I can even see the graph of my last seven days. This is also where my screen time usage is displayed and just looking at it right noooow... yesterday I saved 32 minutes of phone screen-time by wearing Focals. Apparently. Neat, huh? I also like how they come with clip-on sunglasses, though I'd like those to be considerably darker. My eyes are very sensitive to light and the clip-ons that are provided just don't quiiiiite do the trick. Finally, I live in the desert, so staying hydrated is incredibly important. Focals have a little water-drinking reminder and tracker that pops up every once in a while to remind you to hydrate and I looooove that. It'd be nice if it did a two-way sync with fitness tracker apps like Google Fit to keep a record of hydration but that's just kinda nitpicky. Speaking of nitpicky, let's talk about the cons. ## CONS So back to the transparency issue for a second. What I mean is that the ring is bulky and needs to be shifted around pretty frequently, that the glasses are heavy, they're very present in your vision (I really do not recommend driving with them on, even if they do have a "driving mode" that blocks notifications to not be distracting) because the frame is so large that it makes checking your blind spot very, very difficult. If you wear glasses all the time, these will probably just take some minor adjusting to get used to. If you don't, like me, it's a much heavier lift in terms of getting to that transparency. After a while the frames at the edges of your vision receed into the background and you stop noticing them... until you have to use your peripheral vision and, boom, they're snapped right back into reality. Think of it like when you go to the movie theater and, after a while, your entire field of vision IS the screen... until someone's phone goes off and then all of a sudden you can see the whole theater again. It's like that. And honestly, the biggest issue for me is the weight, as they end up hurting the bridge of my nose after a while. I'm having to work up to wearing them a little more every day, otherwise it's actually quite painful. (And I imagine they shouldn't be, so I may just talk to North about that.) Beyond the physical aspects of the devices, the display isn't actually that bad. It's low resolution, which is to be expected, and the GIF responses often look pretty blurry so if you don't know what they are already, it can be hard to figure it out. That little reflective area on the right lens that bounces the light into your eye very often catches ambient light and creates a little blurry spot, which is noticable (but again, maybe regular glasses users are used to this, I have no idea). I mean, there's little stuff to complain about but instead of doing that, let's re-frame that (... heh... get it? glasses pun. sorry) let's talk about things I'd like to see, instead. ## FEATURE REQUESTS I'd love to see a heart monitor in the Loop ring. I think that'd really up the value of these, since you wouldn't have to find a separate monitor when exercising. I'm not suggesting the Focals should be worn during exercise... I think they're too heavy and bulky for that (not to mention that when you're really moving around, it's virtually impossible to see your display because it's bouncing so much), but even just leaving the ring on while jumping on the eliptical or going for a jog would be awesome. Likewise, if one day there was a way to measure blood sugar using the ring, that'd be a game changer, I think. Even something like the Apple Watch's "hard fall" detection would be great. I'd also love to have some sort of note-to-self voice-to-text function. Sometimes I just want to narrate, just go stream of consciousness when I get an idea for something, and that doesn't always fit neatly into a to-do item. So having, essentially, a voice recorder built in would be really nice. There's already a "Rewind" function for saving a transcript of the last 30 seconds of a meeting but that's pretty hit or miss (the transcripts of other people's words are pretty useless, really) and you've got to have a calendar item AND have started Rewind for this to work. So adding a note-to-self recording option to the long-press menu would be great. The location detection is decent but I'd like to see it get much better. I do really appreciate the fact that when I get to a grocery store my Echo shopping list automatically pops up (I mean, that's super handy) but, for example, I went shopping the other day and I was about a third done by the time it realized I was at the store and it showed my list. So, improving that would be really nice. There are language flashcards that you can have pop up occasionally to help you learn a new language but the selection is pretty limited. I'd love to have Spanish as an option (since I'm perpetually trying to learn it). Speaking of language, a Google Translate integration would be amazing. Imagine: it'd be like having a real-life Babel Fish! A less bulky ring would also be apprecaited. If you wear gloves frequently, you'll find you most likely have to remove the Loop. It's far from being a deal-breaker, but it's just one of those things that kills the transparency of the device, since I'm always having to fidget with the ring and move it around. The display resolution is small. We're talking under 200 pixels across small. And that's okay for now but I'd really like to see that go up, up, up. But remember, the way these things work isn't to display something on the actual glass, but rather to bounce it off the glass and directly into your eye. So, even something as small as 200 pixels is going to look pretty great. We're all used to 4k screens and incredible pixel density and these just aren't quite there yet. And that's okay. Finally, and maybe I'm just broken, lighter glasses or better nose pads, or a combination thereof would be great. Like I said, after a while, these really start to hurt. I can do about 75 minutes straight at this point but beyond that ... ouch. ## CONCLUSION I mean, look, this is very much the equivalent of dipping your toes in the water in terms of having that real-life heads-up display we've been seeing in video games and sci-fi films for ages. My cons and feature requests are just those: nitpicky and things I want. North is constantly pushing updates to add and refine features, so at least they're on the ball. I don't know what's in the future for North but I'm excited to find out. (Outro) Once again, thank you for listening to this little podcast-thing of mine. If you found it entertaining or informative or useful, please do subscribe and rate it on the podcatcher of your choice, whether that's iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or however you listen. And, as usual, I'd love to hear from you. You can find me on Twitter at newprofcast. Show notes, transcripts, and more can be found on the website at thenewprofessor.com. Until next time.