Halliday’s New Smart Glasses Can Translate Different Languages in Real-Time

• At CES 2025, Halliday announced its latest Smart Glasses innovation.
• The wearable technology features a ‘DigiWindow‘—the “world’s smallest and lightest near-eye display module”.
• The technology is powered by Halliday AI, which allows the Smart Glasses to take notes, translate languages and summarise meetings.
• No release date has been confirmed; however, Halliday suggested that the Smart Glasses will ship in Q1 of 2025.

The wearables sector may have slowed down in recent years as tech companies shift focus towards AI, but Shenzhen-based company Halliday is reviving the trend. At CES 2025, the brand unveiled the “world’s smallest and lightest near-eye display module”, housed in the upper right-hand corner of its flagship eyewear. More than just a snazzy pair of specs, the smart glasses can translate languages, take notes and summarise meetings at the wave of a hand.

Described as “proactive AI eyewear”, Halliday’s latest development feels a little less CES and a little more 007. On the outside, the optical frames are characterised by a thick-framed, retro-inspired silhouette that looks like a take on the classic Wayfarer design. Hiding just out of view, however, is a 3.5-inch DigiWindow display that provides the wearer with a series of 21st-century tools.

According to the brand, the teeny-tiny augmented reality display works harmoniously with Halliday’s AI assistant, which is, somewhat terrifyingly, designed to anticipate your needs before you ask. Built-in microphones capture your every word before analysing discussions and facilitating prompts in real time. Of course, there are speakers for conducting calls and listening to music, but you can also chat freely with the Halliday AI. Why you’d want to, I’m not entirely sure, but it’s nice to know you’ve always got an open ear to bounce ideas off.

Where the Halliday Smart Glasses really come into their own, however, is in the multitude of lifestyle and work-focused features. The brand claims that the glasses will be able to summarise meetings for you, display notifications, offer turn-by-turn navigation, take notes and even provide real-time translations in over 40 different languages. “For instance, during a meeting, it can proactively answer complex questions, summarise key discussion points, and generate summarised meeting notes afterward,” the brand said in a statement.

Similar to other wearable devices, such as the much-loved but waywardly directed Apple Vision Pro, Halliday’s latest innovation can be controlled via a number of different means. Voice activation is enabled for ease of use, but the majority of tasks are implemented through the use of the bundled trackpad ring, which looks remarkably similar to Samsung’s latest development. As per the brand, you simply slip it on and start waving, guiding the AI as to what you want or don’t want to see.

With the technology seemingly in its infancy, there are always going to be drawbacks and for Halliday, this comes in the battery life. The brand notes that the AI-power Smart Glasses will likely only last around 12 hours on a single charge, which might be enough to scrape through the working day provided you remember to charge them overnight. Importantly, once they run out of juice, Halliday’s handy new product is still of use. Like a broken escalator that simply becomes stairs, the Smart Glasses merely become prescription lenses, fulfilling their original purpose in a stylish, albeit manual fashion.

In keeping with the classic mid-century design language, Halliday’s Smart Glasses will come in either black or tortoise, with the brand suggesting that shipping will commence sometime in the first quarter of this year. Initial pricing has reportedly been set at USD$489.99, however, the brand has yet to confirm Australian pricing and availability.