These might be the smartest glasses I’ve seen – but all they do is help you see better

Since I already wear specs, I’m rather partial to playing with a pair of smart glasses. They’re some of the best wearables and can do a lot of useful things and are usually quite fun. But I’m yet to find a pair that I can actually keep wearing all the time… until now.

The IXI glasses might be the smartest that I’ve seen. But they don’t have a camera, speakers, microphones, or AI. Rather, all they do is help you see better – which is the reason I wear glasses in the first place.

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IXI seems to have clocked that squinting at menus or flicking your head like an owl to find a “sweet spot” in progressive lenses isn’t exactly peak 21st-century living. The answer? Lenses that adjust in real time, guided by your actual eyeballs. Eye-tracking tech, married with dynamic lenses, gives you sharp vision wherever you look, at any distance.

It’s the eyewear equivalent of autofocus on your phone’s camera – only this one doesn’t mess up the shot when you move too quickly. While that sounds impressive enough, the real genius here is in the subtlety.

IXI isn’t plastering a chunky heads-up display across your field of view or strapping a computer to your ear. The tech is designed to vanish into the frame – with no overt signs you’re wearing something intelligent. It’s the Clark Kent of smart glasses, except instead of hiding superpowers, it’s hiding auto-tuning optics and posture feedback systems.

It’s an elegant rethinking of what “smart” can mean in wearable tech. Rather than bolting on more features than a Swiss Army knife, IXI has zoned in on a very human problem and applied next-gen tools to solve it without shouting about it. The company has recently gone through several rounds of funding, but pricing and availability haven’t been officially announced yet. There is a waitlist you can sign up to in the meantime.

• Related: Is there a new AI-powered Google Glass on the way?

Connor Jewiss

About

Connor is a writer for Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. He has been writing for around nine years now across the web and in print too. Connor has attended the biggest tech expos, including CES, MWC, and IFA – with contributions as a judge on panels at them. He's also been interviewed as a technology expert on TV and radio by national news outlets including France24. Connor has experience with most major platforms, though does hold a place in his heart for macOS, iOS/iPadOS, electric vehicles, and smartphone tech. Just like everyone else around here, he's a fan of gadgets of all sorts. Aside from writing, Connor is involved in the startup and venture capital scene, which puts him at the front of new and exciting tech - he is always on the lookout for innovative products.

Areas of expertise

Mobile, macOS, EVs, smart home