Smart glasses, fancy face-worn frames of the future, and the aviators of destruction for VR headsets get my backing as the tech product to watch over the coming years. They’ve become some of my favorite gadgets, and I’m constantly impressed by the rate at which they’re progressing and refining the experience as they shift ever closer to becoming a cornerstone of the wearable world.
Their impressive capabilities, paired with a familiar form factor that’s easy and natural to adopt as part of your day-to-day wear, make them a no-brainer for eventual emergence into the mainstream catalog of wearables.
If you’re unfamiliar with smart glasses, picture your regular eyewear, only enhanced by a range of smart solutions for anything from snappy access to advanced AI assistants like ChatGPT to stunning augmented reality displays that’ll have you consider saying your farewells to flat screens of old.
However, while smart glasses can offer a diverse range of features, there’s one thing that a great many of these wearables have in common: a high asking price. While that’s not too alien of an issue for new tech like this, it can be a stalling point for building up an audience of eager consumers.
Thankfully, those interested in giving the smart glasses experience a try can enjoy something of a trial run of my favorite wearables by giving your current frames an eyewear 2.0 upgrade for a price comparable to a couple of really fancy coffees. I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to the JLab JBuds Frames.
A stepping stone to smart glasses
The JLab JBuds Frames are a pair of Bluetooth speakers that slip directly onto the temples of your glasses, bringing with them an audio-focused smart glasses experience for a fraction of the price.
Syncing up to your phone via Bluetooth, JLab’s frame-worn speakers blend the functions of a hands-free headset and a pair of earphones to make handling calls and listening to music or podcasts on-the-go a cinch — without having to invest in a new pair of glasses and paying extra to outfit them with prescription lenses.
JLab JBuds Frames: Why should I buy?
The JBuds Frames turn the mundane into the magical, or at least provide a compelling slice of the magic you’d find in a fully fleshed-out pair of smart glasses. Right off the bat, would I recommend the Frames instead of a pair of smart glasses? No, not really.
However, that’s not to say that they don’t work as a fantastic and affordable introductory device to what smart glasses can provide. After all, you don’t know what you’re missing out on until you’ve at least partially experienced it.
The Frames’ open-ear audio supplants the need to carry around headphones, giving you a blast of your favorite tracks without ever having to root around in your pockets for your earbuds.
Simply start a playlist or podcast on your phone and then pocket it. From there, the Frames do the rest, allowing you to control everything through their simple twin-button layout.
But it’s not just for your phone; you can connect the frames to any Bluetooth-enabled device, including laptops. I had a blast playing games while using the Frames, as I find open-ear speakers to be just a little more immersive than regular headsets or earphones.
Plus, it won’t isolate you from the wider world, meaning you don’t have to worry about missing phone calls, drowning out doorbells, or home invasions (I can’t be the only one who worries about that while wearing earphones, right?).
One of my favorite things to do while wearing the Frames is to interact with my phone’s assistant. More specifically, Google Gemini. The ability to do this from just a touch of the Frames alone reminds me of the ChatGPT-powered Solos AirGo 3 smart glasses I reviewed at the start of the year.
I love being able to simply call Gemini (or even Microsoft Copilot) into action whenever I have a question I need answering or a thought I need help expanding on — saving you the time or bother of reaching for your phone every time and inevitably losing focus when you fall back into the loving arms of the mistress that is YouTube Shorts (Ok, that one might just be me).
Admittedly, you’re getting what you pay for when it comes to overall audio quality. The Frames are cheap, and cheap they will sound. However, more premium smart glasses offer higher-quality open-ear speakers that really bring the bass and even deliver spatial audio, making gaming even more enjoyable while wearing them.
Outlook
You have to think of the Frames as a smart glasses sampler to get the most from them. While they might lack the quality or refinement of a dedicated set of smart glasses, they’re a brief window into the wider experience. Most smart glasses offer similar audio functionality built right into the frames, and it’s honestly one of the more valuable elements of each pair I’ve tested.
Sadly, it’s a little tougher to experience the AR displays or some of the more advanced 3DoF spatial computing features that other smart glasses like the VITURE Pro XR may offer in budget fashion.
I’d suggest taping your phone to the end of your baseball cap, but I don’t want to be held accountable for the two or three people who take that recommendation seriously and inevitably face some sort of disaster.
The JLab JBuds Frames are an excellent stepping stone on your way to investing in your first pair of smart glasses, even if they’re not the most amazing product on their own.
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