Google's first Gemini-powered smartglasses are open for preorder today starting at $395, and the company is betting that tight privacy controls can finally win over a public still wary after the Google Glass era.
The glasses are a collaboration between Google, Samsung, and eyewear designers Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, with Samsung building the hardware and Google running the software. Warby Parker's three frames, called Alden, Reid, and Wren, start at $395 in the US, while Gentle Monster's six styles begin at $449 and will also sell in South Korea. Each frame weighs about 41 grams before lenses are added.
There are no screens in the lenses. Users wake the assistant with a spoken "Hey Gemini" or a tap on the frame, then interact much like Gemini Live on a phone, whether asking questions, getting walking directions through Google Maps, or talking to pass the time. A 12 MP wide-angle camera lets the assistant scan a bookshelf, add an event poster to a calendar, or describe surroundings aloud for visually impaired wearers through Gemini Guided Vision.
Privacy sits at the center of the pitch. A recording light stays on whenever the camera is active, and the glasses refuse to shoot if that light is covered or tampered with, while every pair also includes a physical off switch. Google blocks any app from live streaming video to social media and rules out real-time facial recognition. Images and videos captured by the glasses stay out of Gemini history and are never used to train AI models or target ads.
Voice interactions don't get the same protection, and while data is encrypted on the device and in transit, it is not encrypted on Google's servers, though the company is working to bring its Private AI Compute to the glasses. Preorders open today and devices ship December 10. They pair with iPhone 13 Pro and newer, plus Pixel 7 or later and select Samsung Galaxy S and Z models running One UI 9.