Even Realities G2 Review: Improved Hardware, Unreliable Ring Controls
Engadget says Even Realities' G2 improves its display and durability, but the $249 R1 ring's controls are unreliable.
The G2 is priced from $599 in Panto and Rectangle styles and in grey, brown or green. It has no forward-facing camera and is positioned as an alternative to a smartwatch. Waveguide prisms in the lenses project notifications, news headlines and turn-by-turn directions into the wearer's field of view; they can also be used for real-time translation, as a teleprompter or to speak to AI. Prescription lenses add at least $159, rising to $349 for stronger prescriptions, Engadget reported.
Compared with the G1, the G2 is a little lighter and uses taller waveguide prisms with resolution increased to 640 by 350 from 640 by 200. The field of view is wider at 27.5 degrees from 25 degrees, the refresh rate rises to 60Hz from 20Hz and peak brightness reaches 1,200 nits from 1,000. The battery is larger, and the number of microphones doubles to four. The G2 is also IP65-rated for dust and water ingress, an improvement over the G1's limited water resistance, which the review described as surviving light rain but not suited to repeated exposure.
The G2 adds on-device touchpads on the temple tips. Engadget says placing them behind the ears helps balance weight and keeps the arms from becoming too chunky, but controlling the glasses from that position feels goofy and could be difficult for people with less precise proprioception.
Even Realities also sells the R1 smart ring for $249 as a separate purchase; it works only with the G2. The ring has a touch surface meant to be worn on the index finger with the touchpad within reach of the thumb. It is made of zirconia ceramic, carries an IP68 rating, has a claimed four-day battery life and tracks activity, steps, heart rate, heart-rate variability, blood oxygen, body temperature and sleep duration. Those measurements are sent to the G2 for viewing "wellness signals" in the wearer's eyeline, and a productivity score aggregates them into one figure.
The review's central criticism is the control scheme. Smart glasses are meant to keep the wearer focused on the real world and free the hands, but Engadget says adding more features to the face makes control more complex. A ring could in theory allow efficient, unobtrusive scrolling and tapping, but the review found that narrow touchpad surfaces such as the R1 can reliably identify only four inputs: swipe up, swipe down, tap and press. Engadget described that as only slightly more sophisticated than AirPods controls, yet it is the basis for everything the G2 does.
To open the main menu, users are asked to tap and long-press on the ring or the touchpad. Engadget says long presses risk being read as swipes, and it experienced enough taps identified as swipes and swipes as taps that it stopped wanting to cycle through menus. The reviewer said the errors killed enthusiasm, especially when they inadvertently opened apps the reviewer wanted to scroll past. The review attributed the problem to the ring's surface being too small and delicate to clearly identify gestures. The reviewer acknowledged that the difficulty may be personal, and Even Realities representatives said as much, according to Engadget.