Powerbank manufacturer Sharge launches smart glasses

The transparent design is Sharge's trademark. Although their power banks are not quite cheap, they are very popular and also impressed me when I tested them.

Now the brand from China and the USA is venturing into a new business area: smart glasses. Under the brand Loomos, they have launched the first AI Glasses on Kickstarter.

This has become a tradition: Sharge has launched twelve products on the market via crowdfunding to date. These have all been developed ready to go and Kickstarter is used as a kind of pre-sale. The first pairs of glasses will be delivered in May and will be available in regular stores a little later.

At the start, the glasses will be available for 199 dollars, the regular retail price will then be 299 dollars. An annual subscription to ChatGPT is included. You can access the artificial intelligence assistant at any time using voice commands. You don't even need a smartphone to do this, you just need to be connected to a WLAN.

Transparent design and camera in the glasses

It's great that Loomos is continuing the Sharge tradition of the transparent housing. You can see some of the built-in technology through the frame, for example the 16-megapixel camera, which you can use to take photos and 1080P videos. You can start recording via a button on the frame or by voice command. Videos are limited to five-minute clips.

The glasses weigh 49 grams. By comparison, my everyday glasses weigh just under 35 grams, which is not that much less. There is an integrated rechargeable battery that lasts a day. Incidentally, you don't necessarily have to take the glasses off to charge them - you can connect an optional 6500 mAh battery. This can be conveniently placed around the neck and recharges the glasses around ten times.

Audio on the ear - and what about data protection?

Speakers are integrated into the glasses. According to Loomos, these sound like a sound system that hangs around the ear. Virtual 5.1 surround sound should be possible. You can listen to music via the glasses, but also make phone calls. Three microphones should ensure good voice quality, which is of course also useful when talking to ChatGPT. You can also record presentations, conversations and meetings, have them transcribed, summarised or translated by the digital assistant and access them later.

And what about data protection? You have to trust the manufacturer. Loomos promises that the data is encrypted using the TLS protocol and that nobody has access to videos, audio or voice recordings - except the creator.

Whenever a recording is made, an LED light lights up. There is also a magnetic cover that can be used to cover the camera. Magnets can also be used to attach sunglasses lenses - pretty clever.

The concept, which is reminiscent of the Ray-Ban Meta, seems to be going down well. Over 100,000 dollars were raised in the first two hours and almost 500 technology enthusiasts have secured a pair of glasses.