I tried the ‘Steve Jobs’ style smart glasses at CES 2026: 2-day battery, no camera, and a matrix display

As I was hopping from one hall to another in the massive Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), I spotted two brands that have made a name for themselves in the smart glasses segment, but whose products I had never tried. One is Even Realities and the other is Rokid, both of which were showing their latest smart glasses at CES 2026. I didn’t want to miss out, and out of sheer curiosity, I braved the long queue and managed to get a slot to demo the Even G2 and Rokid Glasses in person. It turned out to be the best decision, as I spent around 30 minutes with each pair of smart glasses on the second last day of CES.

Even G2 display glasses

I couldn’t meet Even Realities’ CEO Will Wang, but his team was generous enough to give me a demo of the Even G2 during the busy CES tech show. Honestly, I had heard so much about the brand but had never tried its smart glasses. For the Even G2 demo, I intentionally didn’t read anything online beforehand, so that once I tried the glasses myself, I could form my own opinion.

They look like normal glasses – oval in shape, with a design that feels traditional. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

When I wore the Even G2 for the first time, I couldn’t believe I was wearing smart glasses. They look like normal glasses – oval in shape, with a design that feels traditional and definitely not the kind of high-tech eyewear geeks would wear. In fact, the simple design of the Even G2 reminded me of Steve Jobs’ iconic rimless glasses. I don’t know what the design inspiration behind the Even G2 is, but Even Realities CEO Will Wang previously worked at Apple and was a part of the Apple Watch team.

I picked them up and put them on, and the Even G2 felt almost weightless. The frames and stems are extremely thin, and they look very different from my Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. The only things that stand out are the pill-shaped protrusions at the end of each stem, which sit right behind your ears when you wear the glasses. When viewed at the right angle, you’ll also notice a waveform display right in the middle of one lens. After all, these smart glasses have built-in displays, much like the $799 Ray-Ban Display glasses (which I tried at a Meta event last year and shared my first impressions), unlike the Ray-Ban Gen 2 that I use, which don’t have a display.

What’s different about the Even G2 (something I noticed immediately after putting them on) is that they lack a camera and speakers. Instead, the person at the booth who guided me through the demo told me that the focus isn’t on a camera or speakers, but on the waveform display, which shows utilities directly to the wearer.

The Even G2 smart glasses focus on select features rather than offering a wide range. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

The display used in the glasses is called Even HAO 2.0, which stands for Holistic Adaptive Optics. It essentially combines mini micro-LED projectors, gradient wavelengths, and high-definition lenses to create a dual-display image. The display is sharp; it isn’t a colour display, but a monochrome green one. The menus pop up with a sense of depth. In fact, the heads-up display felt larger than Ray-Ban Display’s single-eye display. Meanwhile, controls can be handled through the touch-sensitive bulbs at the back end of the stems, using taps, swipes, and long presses. Additionally, the brand also sells an optional smart ring (retails for $249 in the US), which mimics the gesture interface found on the back of the glasses. I don’t think I would buy a smart ring just for controls when the glasses itself can do. However, the smart ring works like the Oura ring and does health tracking as well.

When I put the glasses on, the person giving me the demo realised that I wear high-power prescription glasses, and the smart glasses weren’t set up for my prescription. I tried them on anyway, but everything looked blurry. So I ended up putting them over my existing glasses, just to save both my time and the demo person’s time during the busy CES show, as other persons standing in the queue were already getting anxious. But I am told the Even G2 glasses support a wide range of prescription support, up to +12.00/-12.00.

If I missed mentioning this earlier (excuse me if I didn’t), part of the reason these glasses are so lightweight, apart from the fact that they are made of titanium and magnesium alloy, is that all the processing happens on the smartphone, which handles connectivity and AI processing.

The Even G2 display glasses were already paired with a smartphone that the demo person was holding, and when I wore them, I could see the main menu, which consists of Conversate, Translate, Teleprompt, and Navigate. Before trying the Even G2, I had only experienced smart glasses with either a colour display or no display at all, so these glasses felt quite different.

The Even G2 smart glasses focus on select features rather than offering a wide range. One key feature, “Conversate,” listens to your conversations and highlights interesting words or phrases with definitions and details on-screen, basically acting like a live helper or whisperer.

The smart glasses can also do live translation, which works for 29 languages. This mode is already useful for me, since I often travel to different countries and meet people who speak different languages. So when someone speaks in French or Mandarin, and I have the Even G2 glasses on, I can read the real-time translation clearly, without needing to reach for my phone and open a translation app.

The Rokid glasses were already paired with a smartphone that the demo person was holding. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

There’s also a teleprompter mode that scrolls notes or a speech on-screen. Another feature the demo person showed me was the navigation mode, which is self-explanatory. The giant heads-up display lights up and provides visual cues for where to turn and when as you go about your everyday life. However, it’s a big change from Google Maps, which I use and which provides very detailed turn-by-turn navigation. Based on my brief testing, I would say the navigation mode built into the Even G2 glasses is better suited for exploring a place on foot.

The Even G2 glasses have a battery life that can last up to two days on a single charge, something I haven’t seen in any other pair of smart glasses. The glasses also support notifications and can interface with popular LLMs and AI wrappers such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

The Even Realities booth at CES 2026. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

All in all, I liked the Even G2 smart glasses for their simplicity. They are designed for everyday wear, and the fact that they don’t have a camera, meaning they are free from the kind of surveillance concerns that privacy crusaders have long raised about face-mounted cameras. For me, the Even Realities G2 Display glasses feel like a step toward a discreet pair of smart glasses that are fashionable without drifting into gimmicky territory. They are long-lasting and even come with a display. However, they don’t come cheap, and their $599 price tag makes them an expensive buy.

Rokid Glasses

After I was done demoing the Even Realities G2 glasses, I headed toward the Rokid (pronounced rock-id) booth in the Central Hall of the LVCC. It was a busy booth, and all I could see were long queues of people waiting to get hands-on with the Rokid Glasses.

Anyway, after braving the queue and waiting for over 20 minutes (which I was patient enough to do), I was introduced to a gentleman who said he would guide me through the Rokid Glasses. I agreed, and he then asked for my prescription number and inserted the prescription inserts accordingly, ensuring I wouldn’t face any issues once I had the smart glasses on.

At first glance, the Rokid Glasses look identical to the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, featuring glossy black plastic with a flat front and slightly thick temples. They also feature a camera lens located in the upper-left corner of the frame, tiny black speaker grilles along the top edge, and pinhole microphones on both the top and bottom. The glasses’ controls and connections are located on the right temple. The glasses are comfortable to wear and looked fine on my face.

The Rokid Glasses booth at CES 2026. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

First and foremost, the Rokid Glasses have a display, a dual micro-LED display that shows everything in a very Matrix-style green, similar to the Even G2 glasses. The dual-display image is sharper, brighter, and more stable during movement. As a reminder, the display doesn’t support photos or videos, making it better suited for text and simple graphics. The menu is basic, to say the least, and the glasses work in tandem with an app available on both Android and iOS.

The demo person then began showing me all the key features the glasses offer, one by one. He started with the translation feature, speaking to me in English while the Rokid Glasses translated it into Hindi in small snippets and displayed them on the screen. The Hindi translation was surprisingly accurate. The screen felt roughly 40 inches in size, and I could still see other people in the booth around me. I also liked the teleprompter feature, which displays a presentation right in front of your eyes. All you need to do is move through the presentation at your own pace and pretend you know the text by heart.

And then there’s the voice assistant. By simply saying, “Hi, Rokid,” you can ask the glasses to read a menu in a different language using the built-in camera. I tried it twice, and the second time the voice assistant worked properly. The assistant lets you choose between two third-party AI models: ChatGPT or Qwen.

These glasses also have a camera (one lens, not two), though I didn’t get to test video recording during my demo.

At first glance, the Rokid Glasses look identical to the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

The Rokid Glasses, like the Even G2 glasses, are designed to be street-smart, everyday smart glasses. The idea is similar to Even Realities: to design a pair of smart glasses that can be worn all day and help you with tasks that work better in a glasses form factor, so you don’t have to constantly reach for your phone. And I agree with the makers.

Here’s my takeaway after getting hands-on with the Even G2 and Rokid Glasses

Meta Ray-Bans aren’t the only smart glasses options on the market. While they may be the biggest right now, smaller brands are also vying for attention. At CES 2026, which concluded earlier this week, I got to try two new pairs of smart glasses from upstart brands: Even Realities and Rokid. Both of their smart glasses are quite similar but take different approaches, featuring matrix-style displays and lightweight designs. Some features are even shared, such as live translation.

I believe both Even Realities and Rokid are positioning their smart glasses somewhere between models without a display and those with a color display – and AI is just one part of the story. It will take some time for smart glasses to become mainstream, but seeing these devices from Even Realities and Rokid left me with a positive impression, though I still think their retail prices are well above what I would personally spend on smart glasses.

That said, smart glasses are at a stage similar to where feature phones once were: good at certain things but lacking in many others. I believe both Even Realities and Rokid are trying to highlight specific features that make the most sense on smart glasses.