Vuzix Blade AR glasses are the next-gen Google Glass we’ve all been waiting for

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Vuzix, a Rochester, New York-based display provider, has been trying to resurrect the promise of Google Glass for years now, but this year’s iteration finally feels ready. The company’s new product, called the Vuzix Blade, was unveiled at CES this week in Las Vegas. It’s a pair of augmented reality smart glasses that float a screen in the upper right corner of your vision. But unlike previous iterations, in which the technology protruded in ugly and apparent fashion, the Blade is the first device Vuzix has developed that contains nearly every aspect of the display and its power source within the eye wear frames.

The company has partnered with Amazon to bring Alexa integration to the device, making the Blade the first pair of AR glasses to make use of Amazon’s voice-based digital assistant. And the glasses are not just a prototype. Vuzix plans to deliver a developer version of the product in the next few months, with a consumer version coming in the second quarter of this year. The price right now is $1,000, but Vuzix hopes to bring it down to less than $500 with future generations.


The Blade works as a standalone headset and can be connected to the internet via Wi-Fi, but it can also be paired over Bluetooth with an iPhone or Android device to mirror notifications and display photos and videos. It has a battery life of anywhere from two to 12 hours, the company claims, depending on whether you’re using it mostly for notifications or for more intensive applications like accessing the web via Alexa, playing games, or using the front-facing, 8-megapixel camera. To maneuver the device’s interface, you can use an internal voice control system that’s separate from Alexa, or you can use a series of multi-fingered swipes on the right side of glasses frame.

One critical difference, and what makes it such a noticeable leap over Glass and other failed attempts at AR, is the design. The Blade, while aesthetically the same as a clunky pair of oversized sunglasses, looks and feels closer to a standard non-computerized accessory than anything we’ve seen before. That doesn’t mean you don’t look goofy wearing them (you do), or that it’s not clear there’s a bit of extra junk built into the frames (there is). But beyond the soft glow of bluish white light an outside observer may notice pulsing behind the right side lens, you’d have to get up close and personal to tell a user was wearing a computer over their eyes.

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