Kerry Wan/ZDNET
Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
ZDNET's key takeaways
The Rokid Glasses are launching through Kickstarter, with a retail price of $599.
They feature built-in displays that project textual information, such as a teleprompter, AI responses, and more.
The 12MP camera sensor leaves something to be desired, and a stable internet connection is required for most functions to work.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's quote about being at a cognitive disadvantage if you're not wearing AI glasses in the future. At first, I dismissed it as just another message to the investors. But after retesting the Meta Ray-Bans this summer and then trying the new Rokid Glasses, my skepticism is quickly recalibrating.
The Rokid Glasses are the latest to enter what has been a bustling market of AI wearables in 2025, and they're full of promise. Besides having the now-expected benefits of smart glasses, such as hands-free photo and video capturing, you can also tap into (or call on) Rokid's ChatGPT-powered voice assistant to answer queries, navigate the UI for you, or process visual information for you through its 12MP sensor.
Also: 5 Meta Ray-Ban upgrades that have me seriously excited for September 17
Sure, the Meta Ray-Bans can run multimodal operations too, but not as well as the Rokid Glasses, based on my 24 hours of testing them so far. And the latter pair has a special trick up its sleeve: Micro LED waveguide displays, an advancement that suggests that real innovation in smart glasses might not be what you hear but what you see.
A forgettable design (in the best way)
Kerry Wan/ZDNET
There's beauty in tech that just blends in, whether it's a smart ring that can determine our day's outlook or smart glasses that can replace a traditional pair while offering much, much more functionality.
The Rokid Glasses are a prime example, with a rather textbook look -- glossy black frames, rubber nose pads, and all -- that can easily pass as just another pair of opticals. In fact, I commuted from Times Square to Downtown Brooklyn yesterday with the wearables on, and the lack of curious glares and sharp eyes surprised me.
Also: Samsung 'Galaxy Glasses' powered by Android XR are reportedly on track to be unveiled this month
Can those around me really not see the green projections I was seeing from the other side? Or was it just another case of New Yorkers living the fast life and minding their own business?
Queue the Matrix soundtrack
Kerry Wan/ZDNET
No, seriously. When you put on the Rokid Glasses, you're greeted with dual monochrome green displays depicting the user interface, a simple three-carousal layout for the voice assistant, settings, and unique text features. At one point, I was waiting for Morpheus to appear and tell me what the fate of my life would be.
That never happened, but testing some of the Rokid's unique display features was quite exhilarating. Most of them landed well -- as I had Rokid's representative quick-fire demos at me -- including a teleprompter that scrolls as the built-in microphones pick up what words you've spoken and a live translation tool (based on ChatGPT) that effectively detects what language is being spoken to you, or captured by camera, and translates it.
Also: Look out, Meta Ray-Bans! These AI glasses just raised over $1M in pre-orders in 3 days
In one scenario, I had requested the Rokid representative to speak Mandarin Chinese to me and suddenly switch to Spanish. While the likelihood of being in a conversation involving three languages is not so high, and processing the words "Ni hao ma" and "Hola, como estas?" would make any Diamond League Duolingo user laugh out loud, the fact that the glasses seamlessly transcribed and translated the dialogue left me impressed. Even my phone can't do that.
Navigating the floating UI was quick and easy, though some of my inputs didn't register at times -- possibly a sensitivity bug related to pre-production units. You can either tap and swipe on the outer arm or simply ask the AI assistant to fire up tasks. There's also a physical button above the side frame that you can press once to take a photo and long-press to start a video recording.
Kerry Wan/ZDNET
As far as content capturing goes, I'm glad to see Rokid thinking creatively about how to leverage the 12MP Sony sensor. Natively, the glasses shoot in a 3:4 aspect ratio (the same as the Meta Ray-Bans). But then, you can apply a default crop to the footage so that the glasses shoot in either 9:16 at 9MP or 4:3 at 6.8MP, gaining viewability in lieu of resolution. There's also 60FPS recording that's capped at 720p. It's a game of tradeoffs.
Also: Samsung 'Galaxy Glasses' powered by Android XR are reportedly on track to be unveiled this month
From my initial tests, the Rokid Glasses' camera doesn't surpass the Meta Ray-Bans. Not yet, at least. While photos and videos have a fair amount of detail, they noticeably lack vibrancy and contrast. I'm hopeful that software updates can elevate the camera's performance from a C to a B tier, but given that the product is still in its crowdfunding phase, that improvement may not come for a while.
Bottom line (for now)
That leads me to my final point, which is that you should always exercise caution when it comes to Kickstarter and other crowdfunded projects. In Rokid's case, I'm actually leaning toward the hopeful side, knowing that it's being developed by a reputable brand in the wearables space, and my first tests have been mostly positive.
After testing both the Meta Ray-Bans and the Rokid Glasses, it's clear that the future of AI wearables is not a question of if, but how. While there's still room for refinement -- from camera quality to software stability -- the Rokid Glasses' burdenless design and innovative visual displays prove that we're moving toward a world where technology doesn't just augment our reality, it becomes an invisible, integral part of it.
The "cognitive disadvantage" Mark Zuckerberg warned about is no longer a distant sci-fi concept; it's a rapidly approaching reality, and devices like the Rokid Glasses are at the forefront. What Meta unveils at Connect 2025 in two weeks will either solidify their lead or prove that the competition is already catching up.