this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2026
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Smartwatches don’t have cameras for the most part, smartglasses don’t need them either. Also a camera isn’t required for audio translation.
I meant text translation obviously. You don't need glasses for audio.
And yeah, smartwatches don't have cameras. They aren't doing anything that needs them. AR, by definition, requires it to know about its environment. It needs a camera at minimum. You could have just smart glasses that can display texts or something, but AR needs cameras.
Smartglasses don't need to be AR though, you could make one that is just a HUD that displays information
What kind of information would my HUD show me, though? Like, idk, my heart rate? I don't want my life to look like some first person shooter.
Where I would get something out of it, would be e.g. when I am repairing stuff to show me where's what (even while thinking about it, I am not sure 😅). Or when I am looking at something in a store to automatically pull up reviews or comparisons. Or showing a manual and highlighting the right screws when building furniture or such.
Welp, not gonna shell out more than low digit hundred Euros for something like that, but all use cases which seem remotely cool...require a camera.
Sure. I don't want that though. Whatever benefit smart glasses could provide can also be provided by just a phone. If you want slightly faster access, a smart watch works too, with slightly less ability for input. Smart glasses, with no camera, can only display this same information, but it's right in your face. Also, without cameras, the only input it could have is on the side of your head, which seems horrible.
AR has some utility I would like. Am I a fan of them putting cameras everywhere? No, so I probably wouldn't buy a pair of AR glasses (and would discourage it of others too). Do I see the functionality? Sure, which I don't see for smart glasses.