Back in May, Google closed I/O 2022 with a sneak peek at its work on augmented reality hardware. AR glasses that look like normal frames are still a long ways away, but Google is already exploring using ring and bracelet form factors to control them.
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The Made by Google hardware division this morning announced that it acquired North. This follows a report last week about the Canadian smart glasses maker looking for an acquisition amid dwindling resources.
While Glass lives on as an enterprise product, it never came close to reaching Google’s wildly ambitious vision of replacing the smartphone. Others have since entered the smart glasses space, with North being one of the more notable players. Alphabet is now rumored to be acquiring North after Focals sold poorly.
Back in February, Canadian startup North rolled out its Focals smart glasses in earnest with a notable price cut to start at $599. Over the past several months, updates added third-party integrations and native Android notifications support. The company teased Focals 2.0 for 2020 today and some key improvements.
Some of the day’s biggest stories included a huge report about Google’s efforts with a “Pixel Watch,” new details on Android TV, as well as some news regarding Google Stadia’s popularity. In other news, Focals by North is getting a convenient new Showroom app, Alexa expands its language support, and more.
North has released frequent updates for its Focals smart glasses since launching earlier this year. The latest makes native Android notification actions available in addition to smart replies and voice dictation.
After launching earlier this year, North discounted Focals from $999 to $599. Apps on these smart glasses are known as “abilities,” with Google Fit and Slides launching in May. The latest integration for Focals is a Google Tasks client to see and add new items.
Focals by North launched at the start of this year, but quickly saw a price cut from $999 to $599. Since then, the plain-looking smart glasses that overlay a screen over your right eye has seen a number of new features. The latest includes Google Fit and Google Slides integration.
Back at CES 2019 we took a look at Focals, a pair of smart AR glasses from North. Now, after barely a month on the market, Focals are getting a major price cut just ahead of new pop-up shops hitting the West Coast.
As I wrote a couple days ago, Google has lately been in the augmented reality background as it quietly pushes ahead with Glass Enterprise Edition in, well, the enterprise. But some other companies, in this case North, are still set on a much grander vision for consumer-facing augmented reality products. We had a chance to check out Focals by North at CES 2019, and boy was it refreshing.
