Summary
TCL unveiled the next glasses experience for AR/MR/XR enthusiasts with a 4μm micro-LED transparent color display. This is the next step to the Facebook's Ray-Ban glasses released last month. Unveiled on Oct 15th, the glasses showcases a built-in camera and smart connectivity with the ability to make calls, check your calendar/schedule, make presentations, watch shows, offer navigation using augmented reality (AR), and capture photos. The device competes with the recently launched Xiaomi Smart Glasses [5] and Facebook's Ray-Ban Stories.
The launch video also briefly shows the AR experience would also enable users to control home automation and support text recognition which would be interesting to see on release. Pricing, availability along with support for devices, smart home integration and languages are still unknown.
Photo Credit - Weibo & NDTV [3]
Quotes
My thoughts
Something that was not seen in the video was gesture control which would be a solid welcome, knowing that we have an onboard camera looking out at the environment much like the WuW/SixthSense project by Pranav Mistry and the good folks at the MIT Media Lab [4]
Compared to the notification led on the Facebook glasses and the monochrome display on the Xiaomi, the inclusion of a micro-LED color display should be well received among enthusiasts.
Sources
[1] TCL Official announcement on Weibo [https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4692531911066316]
[2] News article from GSMArena - TCL unveils Thunderbird Smart Glasses with a full-color transparent micro-LED display [https://m.gsmarena.com/tcl_unveils_thunderbird_smart_glasses_with_a_fullcolor_transparent_microled_display-amp-51441.php]
[3] Photo https://gadgets.ndtv.com/wearables/news/tcl-thunderbird-smart-glasses-pioneer-edition-launch-specifications-features-microled-display-xiaomi-facebook-ray-ban-stories-2576730
[4] Project SixthSense / WuW a.k.a. Wear Ur World [https://www.pranavmistry.com/archived/projects/sixthsense/]
[5] Xiaomi Announcement of their smart glasses https://blog.mi.com/en/2021/09/14/xiaomi-unveils-xiaomi-smart-glasses/