Amazon’s new smart glasses have better sound quality, longer batteries, and Alexa built-in

Amazon’s Echo Frames smart glasses are getting an update, as the shopping giant adds better sound quality, a longer battery life, and new aesthetics for the device.

The first Echo Frames came out in 2019, but do not have any augmented reality capabilities such as those that might be found in Google Glass or Facebook’s potential eyewear.

Instead, the company is focusing on the device’s ability to play music – through four directional speakers which are built into the glasses’ temple - and activate the company’s voice assistant Alexa, giving it control over compatible smart-home gadgets.

As well as Alexa, the glasses have the capability to link to the voice assistants on your smartphone: Siri for iPhones and Google Assistant for Android (as well as Bixby for Samsung devices and Celia for Huawei ones).

Amazon’s new frames have the ability to automatically adjust based on the noise level of the environment, as well as a “VIP Filter” which allows app notifications to be filtered.

Support for calendars and group messaging has also been added to the glasses, and battery life has been improved. The glasses also have an IPX4 rating for sweat and water resistance.

Amazon claims that the new Echo Frames have 40 per cent more battery than its predecessors (at 60 per cent volume), giving it approximately 20 hours of use compared to the 14 hour lifespan of the original.

The Frames can be turned off by holding the glasses upside down for three seconds; this is a feature which already exists in the Bose Frames, another pair of audio-glasses, but is not as adept as that in the Eyewear II from Huawei, which detects when the glasses are being worn and pauses audio accordingly.

With regards to capturing audio, many customers are likely to have reservations about wearing a device with built-in microphones on their face; this means Amazon has had to add an easily-visible indicator.

“The microphones are made to respond to the voice of the person wearing the frames and can easily be turned off with a quick double-press of the action button”, Amazon says. “When the microphones are off, the light indicator will turn red.”

The Echo Frames are available to be pre-ordered in the US for $249.99 (approximately £190) and will begin shipping on 10 December in Modern Tortoise, Horizon Blue, and Classic Black colours.

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