The Oppo Air Glass 3 were the first smart glasses I’d truly wear.

After years of effort by the IT sector, smart glasses “Oppo Air Glass 3” (and other types of techy headgear) are finally gaining traction. It’s a trend that, until today, had me hesitant – for one simple reason: the design.

This is either because they are obviously’smart’, making you a prime target for a robbery along a dark alley, or because they make you appear like a total wally. The Apple Vision Pro does both (sorry, not sorry). However, during MWC 2024, I discovered a device that has finally broken the pattern.

As you can see, they look just like a normal pair of glasses, and they feel just as light and comfortable, weighing only 50g.

They’re controlled by swipes on the arm using touch sensors, albeit it took me a few tries to get it right. With the glasses on, I could see an e-book displayed in front of my eyes and navigate through calendars, weather reports, and other information. These projections were vivid and colorful, thanks to the glasses’ peak brightness of nearly 1,000 nits.

You can also converse with Oppo’s voice assistant through the glasses, which have four built-in speakers to listen for orders. The system employs the AndesGPT model, allowing it to process pictures, text, video, audio, and other formats.

The Oppo Air Glass 3 is a China-exclusive prototype, therefore it will not be available in the UK or the United States. There is still much to learn about this sort of technology. For example, I use prescription glasses at work but did not wear them during this event. As a result, the writing appeared hazy for me.

Of course, they may be worn over regular glasses. A Tech Advisor staff member tested this and reported no concerns. However, it does take away any street cred you may have.

The way forward is undoubtedly to include your prescription lens into the glasses, but I think that it will be expensive, and not everyone has the money or willingness to undergo laser eye surgery.

If Oppo can resolve these concerns, this might be a game-changing product. They might be utilized for live translations of other languages and those with hearing problems, as well as guidance while out and about, all while staying relatively unobtrusive.

Compared to the initial set of AR glasses Oppo released in 2019, which made you appear like Frozone from The Incredibles, it’s a significant advancement.