North’s Focals are the face-mounted display Google Glass should’ve been

Not many people were sad to see the back of Google Glass, but if the original wearable had looked more like North’s Focals, perhaps we’d all be scooting around town with clever specs on our noses already. Available in two styles – round or classic – they project a floating screen into the eyeline of the wearer that can show info from a Bluetooth-connected phone, including text messages, sat-nav directions and calendar appointments. Alexa’s also onboard but to actually navigate the Focals’ menus you have to use a separate ring controller, which isn’t as elegant but much more discreet than talking to yourself in the street. The battery lasts 18 hours but they won’t stop working as glasses when it dies. Each pair costs US$999 and is custom made, so if you don’t live near New York or Toronto and can’t go for a fitting, you’ll have to put up with your old Google Glass for that little bit longer.

Tom Wiggins Contributor

About

Stuff's second Tom has been writing for the magazine and website since 2006, when smartphones were only for massive nerds and you could say “Alexa” out loud without a robot answering. Over the years he’s written about everything from MP3s to NFTs, played FIFA with Trent Alexander-Arnold, and amassed a really quite impressive collection of USB sticks.

Areas of expertise

A bit of everything but definitely not cameras.