Smart glasses are getting more and more popular. But like any new technology, there’s plenty of limitations and issues with current-gen models…
You’ve seen the ads. You’ve heard Zuckerberg pontificate about smart glasses replacing phones by 2030. You’re understandably curious. I get it, new technology and formats are always interesting.
But here’s the rub: all the marketing hype and hyperbole around smart glasses fails to mention anything related to the current glut of issues presented by this new type of tech.
It also ignores all the current limitations of smart glasses technology in its current state – from things like wonky cameras to poor battery life.
As always, we’re here to give you the objective lowdown on everything you need to keep in mind before drinking the Kool Aid and spending a ton of cash on a pair of smart glasses.
The 14 Main Downsides / Issues With Current-Gen Smart Glasses
1. Limited Battery Life
Battery life is ALWAYS going to be an issue with any relatively small and compact wearable technology. Unsurprisingly, the main issue with smart glasses right now relates to battery life – or, the distinct lack of it.
The tech that makes glasses smart requires power. That power comes from a battery, just as it does in your phone. But because of the form factor difference, the battery inside your smart glasses is A LOT smaller.
How long does the average pair of smart glasses last between charges? Not very long at all. You’re looking at just four hours of usage on a single charge and up to 36 hours with a fully charged case.
2. High Cost
Glasses ain’t cheap. Add in a CPU, cameras, and GPUs and a raft of other tech and the end result is not cheap. The base model Meta Ray Ban smart glasses start from $299/£299 which is cheaper than Apple Vision Pro by a considerable margin but still pretty pricey.
Prices vary massively across the market, but even with the cheapest available option, you’ll still be paying three figures. And like with cheap phones, cheap smart glasses lack the features and performance of their more expensive counterparts.
3. Comfort and Design Issues
Smart glasses are heavier than traditional glasses. Why? Because they’re packed with loads of technology – batteries, processors, RAM.
This adds up, making them heavier and bulkier than traditional spectacles. If you’re not used to wearing glasses or you tend to wear lightweight frames, this could cause some discomfort.
Now, this isn’t always going to be the case. As the tech progresses, brands like Ray Bans will make lighter and lighter models. But as or right now, smart glasses are A LOT heavier than normal glasses.
4. Limited Field of View (FOV)
One significant limitation you’ll encounter with smart glasses is their narrow field of view (FOV) in augmented reality (AR) displays.
Unlike the expansive view you experience with your natural eyesight, smart glasses typically project images within a confined area of your vision. This restricted FOV can make the immersive experience feel somewhat boxed in, preventing you from fully engaging with the augmented content.
For instance, when using AR navigation, you might only see directions within a small portion of your view, requiring you to frequently glance away to access other parts of your environment.
Moreover, a narrow FOV can lead to information overload. Since the display area is limited, developers often cram essential data into a small space, making it challenging to process multiple pieces of information simultaneously.
This can be particularly overwhelming during tasks that require quick decision-making, such as industrial operations or complex medical procedures. Users may find themselves struggling to keep track of critical updates without missing important details in their surroundings.
5. Privacy Concerns
For me (and a lot of other people), this is the main problem with smart glasses. With a pair of smart glasses, you can literally record anybody and anything – and that comes with some pretty serious privacy implications.
As of right now, no one seems to have a coherent answer to the problem either. Imagine you’re out and about and someone with smart glasses is recording everything to do and say – it’s a bit creepy, isn’t it?
Meta has a poor track record of protecting user privacy. The Facebook data breach of 2019 exposed the private data of 540 million users to hackers. Then, in 2021 — just two years later — another Facebook data leak put half a billion users at risk. Time and time again, Meta has shown that it simply can’t keep track of its user data — and the Facebook smart glasses give it another source of sensitive information that could be abused by hackers – NordVPN
Now, imagine a world where everybody is wearing them. What happens to your privacy when millions of people are walking around like mobile, always-on CCTV cameras?
And where does all of this data go? Do you trust Meta with this kind of unfettered access to your life and the world you live in? I don’t, not even a little bit.
6. Durability and Weather Resistance
One of the significant challenges you’ll face with smart glasses is their limited ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions.
Most smart glasses on the market today aren’t designed to endure extreme weather, dust, moisture, or rough handling, which can significantly impact their longevity and performance in various settings.
Imagine using your smart glasses during a sudden rainstorm or while working in a kitchen where splashes are inevitable. Currently, most smart glasses lack adequate water resistance, making them vulnerable to damage from moisture.
Water can seep into the internal components, potentially causing short circuits or corrosion that can render the device unusable.
Similarly, dust particles can infiltrate the delicate electronics and moving parts of smart glasses, leading to malfunctions or reduced performance.
So, yeah… that’s not very good. Things will improve, of course, but as of right now these are real concerns that potential buyers need to be aware of before pulling the trigger on a pair of smart glasses.
7. Limited App Ecosystem
The range of available applications for smart glasses isn’t as extensive as what you find on smartphones.
This is to be expected, of course. Phones have been around for decades; smart glasses are basically brand new. Higher levels of adoption and usage will encourage developers to start creating apps for them in greater numbers. But as of right now, the app situation is pretty limited.
And adoption is predicated on smart glasses actually being useful. Just plopping stuff from your phone into your field of view is not a killer application. We’ve been here before with Microsoft’s HoloLens and Google Glass. And look how they turned out?
8. User Interface and Interaction Challenges
Interacting with smart glasses often feels less intuitive compared to using smartphones or tablets. You might find navigating menus, typing, or issuing voice commands challenging, which can make the learning curve quite steep.
The limited display space forces designers to condense information, resulting in cluttered menus that are hard to navigate quickly.
Voice commands, while hands-free, aren’t always reliable. Background noise, accents, and speech impediments can affect voice recognition accuracy, causing your smart glasses to misinterpret instructions or require repeated commands.
This inconsistency can disrupt your workflow and decrease overall productivity. The lack of standardized interaction protocols across different models means that switching between devices can be confusing and frustrating.
9. Connectivity and Compatibility Issues
Reliable connectivity is crucial for smart glasses to function seamlessly. If you get some water or dust inside the components (or you drop or bump them, damaging a component), this could affect connectivity.
And if you knock out its Bluetooth chip (which, let’s face it, is problematic at the best of times), you won’t be able to pair them properly. Bluetooth, while useful, is one of the wonkiest wireless standards on the market. Usually, it works great. Other times, it won’t play ball no matter what you do.
10. Social Acceptance and Stigma
Everybody has phones and tablets. They’re common. But things like VR headsets and smart glasses are not common – not by a long shot. You never see someone sat in a pub with a VR headset on; it’d be weird and it would draw attention.
While smart glasses are different than VR headsets, the fact that they’re chunkier than normal glasses and have a camera, will likely draw the attention of people – and not always in a good way.
People in general are very protective of their privacy, and rightly so too, so if you’re wearing smart glasses in public, you can and should expect some potentially negative comments from strangers.
No one likes the idea that they might be being secretly recorded. And with smart glasses, it has now never been easier to securely record people, their conversations, and the environment you’re in.
11. Data Privacy and Security
Smart glasses collect and process personal data, which means robust privacy and security measures are essential. And you will NOT get that from Meta. They play it fast and loose with data, as multiple court cases have shown.
If you’re going to wear smart glasses, you have to ask: do I trust the company that makes them? Do I mind them seeing and listening in on my personal and private life? If you don’t like the idea of that, smart glasses probably aren’t for you.
What remains unclear is the issue of bystander consent and how people who appear unintentionally in the background of someone else’s photos will be used by Meta for AI training purposes. As AI capabilities evolve and these technologies become more widespread, these concerns are likely to grow.
Meta’s reliance on user behaviour to uphold privacy norms may not be sufficient to address the complex questions surrounding consent, surveillance and data exploitation. Given the company’s track record with privacy concerns and its data-driven business model, it’s fair to question whether the current safeguards are enough to protect privacy in our increasingly digitized world still – The Conversation.
The privacy and security implications around these types of products is immense. The potential for abuse is massive and no one, not Mark Zuckerberg or any of the new smart glasses brands, has a coherent answer about how to address it.
12. Limited Content and Use Cases
Although smart glasses offer various applications, the range of available content and practical use cases is still limited compared to more established technologies like smartphones and tablets.
There’s a lot of talk about potential features and what they MIGHT do in the future but this is ALL predicated on adoption. If people don’t use them in significant numbers, developers will not waste time and money developing applications for them.
In this respect, it’s a big of a chicken and egg situation. You need apps to make something useful. But in order to get apps, you need the product to be successful. And you cannot really do one without the other (and vice versa).
13. Health Concerns
As with anything that sits in front of your field of vision, the scope of issues is massive. VR and AR headsets are already known to cause headaches and nausea. Smart glasses are no different, so if you’re prone to vision-induced nausea or headaches, they might not be for you.
In experiment 2, on the other hand, we detected severe VIMS symptoms in some subjects, with disorientation (SSQ subscale) as the main symptom group. The present work demonstrates that VIMS can be of serious concern in modern AR applications. The FMS-D represents a new tool to measure symptoms of dizziness during exposure. VIMS symptoms need to be considered in the design and usage of future AR applications with dynamic virtual objects, e. g. for flight training or machine maintenance work – ScienceDirect
Using smart glasses for extended periods might cause eye strain, headaches, and – in the worst cases – migraines. Again, this isn’t the case for everybody but it is worth keeping in mind before you buy a pair.
