Lucyd has launched a new pair of prescription-compatible smart glasses called Lucyd Loud which cost only $99.
Loud features bone conduction-based audio and AI voice assistant access for phone calls, media controls, and app access at the touch of a button, similar to how standard Bluetooth headsets work.
They also don’t necessarily look like either prescription glasses or tech-heavy smart glasses. Instead, they have a modern styling in a matte black coloration and ship in three different styles of lenses. They include clear, sunglasses, and a slightly more expensive photochromatic.
Those who require prescriptions also have the option of choosing between either single prescription or progressive prescription, with the additional choice between high index clear or high index photochromatic style of lenses. Pricing tops out at $229 for the most expensive of those options.
These aren’t smart glasses in the same sense that Google intended with its Glass-branded eyewear or Snap’s recently launched Spectacles 2 – which also allow for prescriptions. While Google’s Glass included a display and other perks, Lucyd Loud takes things in a completely different direction with a deliberate audio bend. Bone conduction technology isn’t new either, first introduced as an idea back in the early 1920s before being used in certain medical products in the 1970s. It was also the method used by Google for audio output in its own smart glasses.
Lucyd is building on those achievements with its new device by delivering a high-fidelity take on the technology, accessed via a button on the side of its new smart glasses.
The introduction of Loud seems to signify a distinct shift in the wearable market itself. Namely, this is yet another break from the all-inclusive offerings of Google, Snap, and a few others. The upside being consumers can save money while purchasing a new and niche product that is completely separate from the smartwatches and wristbands of the past.
The new products are multi-purpose since they also function as a pair of shades, and may prove additionally beneficial to users with vision problems. Not only might products like this represent the birth of a new direction for wearables in general, but might also give the somewhat stagnating wearables market a significant boost in terms of consumer awareness.
