Focals by North review: Excellent AR glasses that fall just short of perfection

By Charles Poladian From Mashable

Focals $599 (starting)

The Good

Great style and quality • Weekly software updates • Easy to use

The Bad

No transit/subway directions • Bulky carrying case • Price

The Bottom Line

Focals by North are a great first step into everyday augmented reality. With limited showrooms and a $599 price tag, the Focals may be a hard sell to the average user.

Of all the great science-fiction technology that’s making its way into our everyday lives, the heads-up display (HUD) is easily the most promising. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, think of The Terminator or Predator, where the main characters use computer vision to analyze the real world when they look around. All the information appears right in front of them — that is essentially what a HUD does for regular people here in the non-fiction world.

The HUD gets rid of the need to look at your smartphone or smartwatch when you need information. Instead, the HUD overlays digital images onto the real world, so you can spend more time focusing on your task at hand rather than looking down at a screen.

More practically, smart lenses could theoretically be used in everyday work life for their huge convenience factor. Meeting notifications, message alerts, and even directions can be projected onto the lenses without requiring the user to do much other than live their lives normally. 

This is ultimately what made Google Glass so appealing. More recently, it’s what propelled Magic Leap into becoming a multi-billion dollar company. And Microsoft’s Hololens is hoping to change medicine, engineering, and other industries too. Augmented reality is being used to change our retail experiences and the way we interact with the outside world.

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