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    MentraOS – open-source Smart glasses OS

    (github.com)
    206 points arbayi | 28 comments | 05 Sep 25 16:25 UTC | HN request time: 1.04s | source | bottom
    1. andrewla ◴[05 Sep 25 18:13 UTC] No.45141730[source]▶
    Is anybody making smart glasses that are just a display? For me, the rest of the feature set verges on being anti-features. I'd much rather a very rudimentary display that my phone or another device could send relatively low bandwidth data to over bluetooth or some other protocol and build from there.

    Having a camera or a mic on the glasses themselves seems like something I'd mostly want to avoid for privacy, and having a speaker just seems like gilding the lily when we already have a variety of headphones to choose from.

    replies(15): >>45141760 #>>45141898 #>>45142046 #>>45142191 #>>45142200 #>>45142653 #>>45143450 #>>45143712 #>>45143765 #>>45144145 #>>45145287 #>>45146037 #>>45146638 #>>45147276 #>>45147350 #
    2. arbayi ◴[05 Sep 25 18:15 UTC] No.45141760[source]▶
    https://store.vufine.com/ I think vufine might be what you are looking for, I don't know much about them as well, also found it here on Hacker News.
    replies(1): >>45143819 #
    3. skhameneh ◴[05 Sep 25 18:26 UTC] No.45141898[source]▶
    Not quite "smart glasses", but if you want "glasses that are just a display", the Lenovo Legion Glasses are pretty good and they look like normal aviators at first glance.

    I have a pair and I've been experimenting a bit.

    For iOS you can mirror display or use Stage Manager. For Android, at least with Samsung, DEX is pretty decent.

    For audio, they're decent too, I like the convenience and comfort. The audio has good fidelity, but depth is mediocre (better than phone speakers though).

    FWIW I say DEX is decent, having much of the same gripes as I do with Stage Manager. Dual screen, resizing windows, and full screen support is still a mixed bag on all mobile devices. It can be very frustrating at times. Application support on iOS and Android is about the same, which is disappointing. Supposedly iOS 26 fixes some of this, but I haven't tried the beta.

    4. HeatrayEnjoyer ◴[05 Sep 25 18:37 UTC] No.45142046[source]▶
    Glasses with a camera should be legislated away with specific narrow exceptions for e.g. safety in certain industrial tasks.
    replies(2): >>45142106 #>>45145648 #
    5. skhameneh ◴[05 Sep 25 18:43 UTC] No.45142106[source]▶
    Reframe this to accommodate for the prevalence and general expectations of where cameras exist.

    Many people walk around with a mobile device out, essentially carrying a device with (increasingly) close to a 360 camera view. Cameras are ubiquitous and targeting one niche device is a waste of time and effort.

    replies(1): >>45142331 #
    6. queSide ◴[05 Sep 25 18:50 UTC] No.45142191[source]▶
    I think most of Xreal's offerings are just a display you plug into a phone or laptop.
    replies(1): >>45152470 #
    7. floren ◴[05 Sep 25 18:51 UTC] No.45142200[source]▶
    Not to toot my own horn, but I've been fiddling with a now-discontinued, very cheap pair of display smart glasses: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45087803

    You can send low-resolution images to them via Bluetooth. I just figured out how to read button presses. There are speakers and a mic, but I haven't figured out how to use them yet (they don't show up as regular audio devices on Linux).

    You'd need to write custom stuff to generate the images, but with a little imagemagick scripting I've had some pretty usable results.

    replies(1): >>45149412 #
    8. esseph ◴[05 Sep 25 19:02 UTC] No.45142331{3}[source]▶
    Sounds like a lobbyist pitch from Big Camera Glasses
    9. SparkyMcUnicorn ◴[05 Sep 25 19:30 UTC] No.45142653[source]▶
    The "Even Realities G1" and "Vuzix Z100" options listed in the compatibility doc look interesting.

    https://github.com/Mentra-Community/MentraOS/blob/main/glass...

    https://www.evenrealities.com/g1

    https://www.vuzix.com/products/z100-smart-glasses

    10. unaut ◴[05 Sep 25 20:52 UTC] No.45143450[source]▶
    Yeah, same here—just give me a clean display and Bluetooth. No cameras, mics, or speakers needed!
    11. numpad0 ◴[05 Sep 25 21:15 UTC] No.45143712[source]▶
    Note that Solos smart glass from one of other comments might be on eBay for $49 each, but they used to be $499 new. Even Realities G1 is $599. Vufine was way cheaper at $199, but it was wired only and it came with no software whatsoever.

    Smart glasses inevitably cost in those ranges because the exotic displays used on them are costly to make and/or operate. Inkjet OLED on silicon or reflexive monochrome LCD with RGB sequential front lighting combined with a prism system or things of that nature.

    IOW, those excessive feature sets isn't drawn from product concepts or user stories, they're drawn backwards from cumulative parts and engineering costs to justify MSRP. Same reasons as why almost all EVs are marketed as premium products, they can't make them cheaply so they're adding extra glitters in paint to justify price tags.

    If anyone could make displays smaller than a pinky fingernail at $5 that can be driven with an Arduino... then there would be lots of smart glasses that are just Bluetooth picture frames.

    replies(1): >>45169308 #
    12. nixonpjoshua ◴[05 Sep 25 21:21 UTC] No.45143765[source]▶
    https://www.xreal.com/us/

    https://global.rokid.com/

    Both of these companies make exactly that. I have Rokid Max, can't comment on the quality for the Xreal

    replies(1): >>45146683 #
    13. alchemist1e9 ◴[05 Sep 25 21:26 UTC] No.45143819[source]▶
    It’s wired and very finicky. Basically a 10 year old solution to this problem. I have on in my collection. It’s cool but not really useful or in same tier as the other products being mentioned.’
    14. circuit10 ◴[05 Sep 25 21:58 UTC] No.45144145[source]▶
    It would be difficult to do head tracking without a camera and having it fixed in your view would limit what you could do with it and be distracting I think (depends on the use case/person though)
    15. tonyhart7 ◴[06 Sep 25 00:21 UTC] No.45145287[source]▶
    "Is anybody making smart glasses that are just a display?"

    it is called smart glasses when its just "glasses" ???

    16. com2kid ◴[06 Sep 25 01:14 UTC] No.45145648[source]▶
    Because smart glasses, that flash a light and make a loud noise when taking a picture, are more invasive than phones literally everywhere? Or street billboards with built in cameras?

    Or how about dash cams in cars? CCTV cameras on ATMs as you walk down the street?

    replies(1): >>45149407 #
    17. senectus1 ◴[06 Sep 25 02:21 UTC] No.45146037[source]▶
    THIS!

    ever since reading the opening chapter of Charles Stross' Accelerando, this is what I've wanted.. an always present live information feed available on tap at any time.

    18. caydenpiercehax ◴[06 Sep 25 04:32 UTC] No.45146638[source]▶
    Most people pursuing this include display + microphone.

    The microphone lets you pick up voice, which is critical. Captions, translation, note-taking, etc. all benefit from this.

    Even Realities G1 is this. Mentra is releasing a pair in first half of 2026 like this. Display + microphone.

    19. codethief ◴[06 Sep 25 04:43 UTC] No.45146683[source]▶
    I own the Xreal One Pro – they are very good! (I wish their resolution was higher than 1080p but no one else offers anything better, either.)
    20. renegat0x0 ◴[06 Sep 25 07:13 UTC] No.45147276[source]▶
    To be honest most of my apps are web pages now. Even on my phone I do not use any more than the default apps. For what is missing I have written my own self-hosted pages.

    I sometimes wonder why people "synchronize" anything, since everything is in my self-hosted instance.

    21. hnlmorg ◴[06 Sep 25 07:32 UTC] No.45147350[source]▶
    Loads. I’ve got a pair of Xreal glasses and use it regularly.
    replies(1): >>45148345 #
    22. walterbell ◴[06 Sep 25 11:29 UTC] No.45148345[source]▶
    Viture similarly offers wired USB-c displayport, with myopia adjustment up to -5 diopters, and optional magnetic frame for custom prescriptions. They sell refurbs on eBay and have a Linux SDK. It's surprisingly functional as a mirrored monitor, without the additional software or hardware which adds platform-specific features like virtual monitors.
    replies(1): >>45149866 #
    23. 1oooqooq ◴[06 Sep 25 14:11 UTC] No.45149407{3}[source]▶
    "why would murder be illegal? people get killed all the time. are you going to outlaw cars because you can run over someone? murder laws make no sense."

    kids these days. geez.

    replies(1): >>45150442 #
    24. bArray ◴[06 Sep 25 14:12 UTC] No.45149412[source]▶
    Very cool work, and the write-up is also great.

    Personally I want to see something that isn't dependant on a depleting level of stock, ideally something open source. Otherwise the development investment just doesn't seem worth it.

    25. numpad0 ◴[06 Sep 25 15:01 UTC] No.45149866{3}[source]▶
    Those birdbath stereo smartglasses must be coming from some exact same ODM, they're too same.
    26. com2kid ◴[06 Sep 25 16:03 UTC] No.45150442{4}[source]▶
    The point is, smart glasses (which to be clear only take a picture when a button is pressed, just like any other camera people own) are not different than any other camera.

    Also in the US there is no legal expectation of privacy on public streets. Plenty of public facing webcams are available for viewing.

    Passing a law regulating the shape of a camera body is just stupid. Outlawing camera glasses makes less sense than outlawing camera flowers.

    27. oniony ◴[06 Sep 25 20:12 UTC] No.45152470[source]▶
    Viture too.
    28. andrewla ◴[08 Sep 25 15:10 UTC] No.45169308[source]▶
    This rings true to me -- it's hard to sell a $480 device that only displays images. Easier to sell a $500 device that is a $480 display + $20 of crappy software and sensors and speakers and compute so that buyers think they're getting their money's worth.