In its quest to put Alexa into seemingly every smart device under the sun, Amazon has announced a pair of smartglasses with the voice assistant living inside.
The Echo Frames work through directional speakers built into the design of the normal-looking glasses, letting you talk to Alexa without the people around you hearing the responses.
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When paired with an iPhone or Android smartphone, the Frames will be able to perform functions like reading out notifications, playing music and making phone calls.
Unlike Snap’s Spectacles, there’s no built-in cameras here, or a display fashioned into the lenses like the North Focal. It’s clearly all about the audio and keeping your interactions with Amazon’s assistant relatively discreet.
However, if you don’t mind drawing a bit more attention to yourself, Amazon also indicates that the Frames will be able to handle gesture controls, for responding to messages and other notifications.
The Frames will be priced at $179.99, however, so they don’t come cheap. Like the Echo Loop smart ring, which Amazon also unveiled at its hardware event in Seattle, the Alexa specs are part of the company’s Day1 Edition products.
That means they’ll only be available, at least initially, through invitation.
While these might be Amazon’s first foray into the world of smartglasses, it’s not the first company to bring similar features to a pair of normal-looking specs.
Bose unveiled its Frame audio AR sunglasses back in 2018, while Huawei unveiled its Eyewear specs in March, which also let you take calls, access smart assistants and listen to your audio from your face.