As part of its Inno Day 2022 announcements, smartphone brand Oppo has unveiled the 2nd generation of its smart glasses: the Air Glass 2.
Despite only announcing the first generation Air Glass device a year ago at Inno Day 2021 (and launching it at the start of 2022) Oppo already has plans to release a new and improved version of the specs. The most obvious change is that the original’s monocle design has been morphed into a pair of full-frame glasses, but Oppo promises that the improvements are more than skin deep.
For a start, the Air Glass 2 glasses can be outfitted with vision-correcting lenses – allowing them to perform as not only a smart device but a pair of regular specs too. The glasses are also super-lightweight at just 38g, so you shouldn’t feel too fatigued wearing them on your face all day.
As for their functionality, newly added microphones and speakers allow the device to play music, make phone calls, translate foreign languages and provide real-time voice-to-text transcription. Best of all, the Oppo Air Glass 2 maintains the original's wireless design; unlike the Nreal Air and VITURE One glasses, you won't need a cable to pair these specs to your Oppo smartwatch or smartphone.
As impressive as these glasses sound, we hope they don’t suffer from the same issues as their predecessor.
While trying out the original Air Glass, The Verge’s Adi Robertson found the experience to be quite uncomfortable. The most likely causes for this irritation are the device’s low screen fresh rate – just as in VR, noticeable screen flicker at close range can be nauseating – and that the single lens is forcing each of the wearer’s eyes to focus at different distances at the same time.
Oppo has reportedly improved the Air Glass 2’s lenses and its Micro-LED projectors, and with the transition to a dual-lens setup these new specs should have a design that alleviates both of these issues. However, we’ll need to try them out to know for sure.
Our other concern is that the wireless and feature-packed yet lightweight design will result in these smart specs having a very short battery life. We’ve seen how smart glasses have guzzled the charge of smartphones they’re plugged into, so if the Air Link 2 specs aren’t packing a large enough battery you might be unable to use them for extended periods of time.
That is, if you can actually get hold of them. Right now there’s no word on a release date, price, or even whether the Oppo Air Glass 2 will be available in regions outside of China and Asia. Given that the original Oppo Air Glass didn’t get a global release, we wouldn't recommend holding your breath for a US, UK, or Australia launch.
That said, with AR glasses becoming increasingly mainstream, we wouldn't be too surprised if Oppo decided to use the Air Glass 2 to muscle in on this emerging market globally in 2023.
Interested in picking up an Oppo smartphone? Check out our best Oppo phones guide to see which of its handsets is better than the rest.
