Smart Glasses & Wearables

A comparison of Horizon OS, Android XR and the other smart-glasses platforms; which ecosystem to invest in comes before hardware selection. Unlike a single platform’s pitch it sets them side by side — though bear in mind it is a glasses maker’s blog.

A step-by-step build starting from components rather than a kit. The optical combiner and power management sections are the hard parts.

A comparison of processors and NPUs used in glasses, weighing power budget and thermal limits — in a frame the real constraint is heat, not compute.

An open-source alternative to the vendor app, aimed at unlocking restricted features and removing the cloud dependency.

A community resource collection for the Even Realities G2 smart glasses. Unlike the official documentation, this is where the tools and solved problems it does not cover accumulate.

A video on building open-source glasses. Unlike success-story showcases it is honest about which parts are genuinely hard — worth watching before committing to the project.

A step-by-step build guide for open-source smart glasses with a bill of materials and assembly order. Unlike project showcases it has that level of detail — exactly what makes the project reproducible.

A glasses maker that publishes both hardware schematics and software. Unlike closed makers such as Meta, it is close to the only company in the sector selling a product while opening the design.

AI glasses where a developer can load their own applications — unlike closed ecosystems, the right to run code on the device is yours.

Reverse-engineering of the device’s BLE protocol — the only route to uses the official SDK does not permit.

Even Realities’ developer hub, holding app development resources and API documentation. Unlike its GitHub repositories, it gathers documentation and guidelines rather than code.

Even Realities’ official repositories and the primary source for the SDK and sample apps. Unlike glasses makers that keep code closed it publishes — still the exception in this sector.

Everyday glasses with a display and deliberately no camera. The omission is a decision rather than a shortfall — it addresses the social acceptance problem head on.

Frame and prescription lens options — the part that decides whether the glasses actually get worn daily, more than the technology does.

Community projects around Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Unlike Meta’s official access toolkit, the work here is mostly protocol analysis and unofficial bridges — still active because the official toolkit is new and limited.

A live list of tagged open-source projects that stays current by itself, unlike curated lists — the way to catch new arrivals.

An article on the graphics-versus-power trade-off in high-end wearables; in display glasses the GPU choice sets battery life directly. Unlike product reviews it looks from the chip-design side — bear in mind the author is a GPU vendor.

A cross-platform SDK for HeyCyan glasses. Unlike the vendor’s closed app, it lets your own application control photo, video and audio capture.

Connects HeyCyan glasses to a browser over Web Bluetooth. Instead of writing a native app you talk to the device from the browser — a fast route for prototyping.

A technical note on how media transfer from glasses to phone is structured — control over BLE, bulk data over Wi-Fi. A pattern directly applicable to similar devices.

A starter kit for connecting to glasses over BLE from Android. Unlike writing BLE code from scratch, the GATT services and characteristics arrive defined, so you do not reverse-engineer the protocol.

An open operating system for smart glasses unifying different vendors’ hardware under one app layer — aimed at the problem of writing a separate app per device.

Meta’s display glasses controlled by an EMG wristband. Compared with touch or voice control, it shows where the input method is heading; the ecosystem is closed.

A wearable that listens to conversations and summarises them, capturing context rather than vision. The ethics of always-on listening are a separate argument.

An all-day wearable open-source glasses design with schematics, PCB and software published — so unlike closed products you can see what it collects and where it sends it.

Converts an existing pair of glasses by attaching a camera and board, on a parts list of roughly $25. Conversion rather than manufacture.

An application note on adding touch control to a glasses temple, with circuit diagram and calibration parameters. Unlike general datasheets it is concrete — documentation at this level is rarely public.

The official page for the Snapdragon AR platform inside most shipping glasses, with reference designs and power figures. Unlike individual product pages it looks at the platform level — for understanding what is inside which glasses.

A vendor offering low-power glasses silicon aimed at simpler, cheaper devices than Qualcomm. For glasses that only show notifications, a Snapdragon is overkill.