I Tried The $600 Smart Glasses… Are They Worth It?

The Focals by North smart glasses

Imagine having your texts, emails, weather, and more all in your field of vision. Sounds like an episode Black Mirror, right? It’s actually available now for $600 through a pair of Focals By North Smart Glasses.

These days we have all of our notifications available immediately with our phones and even our watches. It only makes sense that infiltrating our vision would be next. The idea of “smart glasses” sounds both exciting a little scary. On the one hand, they could be very convenient. Maybe I won't even need to carry around my phone anymore. On the other, it may bring about a whole new level of addiction to technology.

I decided to try these out for a week to see if they were worth the hefty price tag.

Getting Started

For these glasses to work properly, you need to get them custom-fitted to your face. I went to an appointment where they adjusted the glasses as well as the field of view. Each pair of glasses is unique in this way, so if someone else puts on your glasses the graphics will most likely be blurry to them. They do both prescription and clear lenses.

I don’t wear glasses, so it was a little strange getting used to wearing these glasses. They have a nice sleek look to them, however the sides are pretty thick. Compared to the notorious Google Glass, these have a much better aesthetic. These glasses offer a much more sophisticated look, and I actually liked how I looked with them. If someone is within a few feet of you and looks closely, however, they can see a small reflection of the graphics on your glasses.

Productivity

Before trying these, I wondered if they would make me more productive or distracted. I decided to leave the notifications on while working on projects for this first day to see how it affected my productivity.

Focals By North glasses and the corresponding joystick ring

The first day I wore the glasses I put them on first thing and checked the weather, messages, and emails. I found it convenient to swipe through these with the joystick and being the first day, I was excited to try it out.