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I tried smart glasses with xMEMS speakers and active cooling - and they're full of promise

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Kerry Wan/ZDNET

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ZDNET's key takeaways

Smart glasses are bulky, compromising comfort and internal cooling systems.

xMEMS' Sycamore micro loudspeaker significantly shrinks the size of smart glasses.

The µCooling fan-on-chip actively manages heat, preventing performance throttling.

I've been wearing prescriptions since elementary school, so the advent of viable smart glasses over the past few years has somewhat shifted my perception of what I can do hands-free and how wearables feel on my face.

The Meta Ray-Bans can be credited with the ongoing efforts to computerize our vision, with the latest Display model even featuring full-on waveguide technology that projects visual cues like navigation, translations, and voice prompts. But there's one glaring issue with smart glasses today: bulkiness.

Also: I tested Meta Ray-Ban Display alternatives, and these are better in several ways for less money

Various components in smart glasses, from camera sensors to batteries to speakers, demand real estate that goes beyond traditional eyewear sizes. In turn, the added bulk can make the worn experience a burden and inadvertently compromise the room needed for cooling systems, preventing them from running at an optimal level.

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