During the chaos of CES 2025, I came across one product that gave me the “I need to have that” feeling. It was at a small booth in the smart wearables area. They were the Even Realities G1 glasses. They were the first smart glasses I came across that I actually wanted to wear purely based on the look. When I finally got my hands on them, they mostly lived up to my internal hype. These G1 glasses were amazingly well made, had some great functionality that I used a lot, like the teleprompter feature, and seemed to be heading in the direction that I thought most smart glasses should take. However, it was still a first-generation product, so some kinks needed to be ironed out. Fast forward to today, and Even Realities introduced their new G2 glasses and the R1 bright ring, and now it feels like a whole different beast. Here is what you should know.
New design and battery life
My biggest worry about a new version was that they would change the design too much, because the design of the G1 was my favorite part. I was pleased to see that they mostly retained the design while also making them lighter, weighing in at just 36 grams; for comparison, the Meta Ray-Bans are about 50 grams. They slightly flattened the top portion of the lens frame, which I did not mind. The most important change was the input method on the glasses themselves. On each temple tip, they replace the current unsatisfying touch nub with a more sophisticated yet easy-to-use touch pad control system. It’s very reminiscent of the camera control button on the modern iPhones. You can swipe, slide, scroll, tap, double-tap, and long-press to interact with the UI and features in different ways. It also hides behind your ear, so it is not visible to most people.
When it comes to other input methods, similar to the G1 glasses, these have no cameras, no speakers, no flashing lights. Just well-built, high-end eyewear that happens to be smart. That decision makes them feel much more socially acceptable. Battery life is also best in class for smart glasses, giving you two days on a single charge, and the case provides an additional 6-7 charges. So you can technically go two full weeks without plugging them in.
Display tech
So if these have no camera, no speakers, no light indicators, what makes these smart? It’s the display. Each lens has a display on it that gives you anything from simple notifications to a teleprompter, to live translation to stock information. The display in this green matrix style font is throughout the entire system. So no color aside from the green.
They improved this optical engine with the G2, but introduced the HAO 2.0 (Holistic Adaptive Optics), which essentially sharpens, brightens, and makes the visuals more natural-looking, even when you’re in motion. It utilizes a new 3D spatial display that separates information into layers: quick AI prompts or messages are displayed in front, while items such as notes or navigation are positioned in the background. It feels intuitive, like having a small layer of practical context floating in your vision rather than staring at another screen. The new UI also makes it seem more natural when using the new input system on the tymple tips (which are on both sides.
Smart features
At its most basic level, I basically tell people that it’s an Apple Watch for your eyes. You get subtle notifications that cross your eye line. But it’s brief and does not distract from what you are doing in the moment, which I love. I actually prefer it to notifications on my wrist because if my wrist buzzes, it makes me want to break concentration on what I am doing to look down at my wrist. At the same time, the Even Realities allow you to not break concentration on the task at hand.
They also have an abundance of smart tools. The ones I used the most were the Teleprompt feature, which allows you to import a script or take points, and you can read them off the display in the lenses. The other feature is Maps. You can use the glasses to navigate without needing to check your phone. Some other tools that are included are:
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