HTC’s Vive Eagle is a pair of smart glasses aping the template laid down by Ray-Ban back in 2021. It’s a Wayfarer-style frame with either Panto (round) or Square lens options hewn in either black or tinted translucent plastic. On either side of the two glasses lenses, embedded in the hinges, are two round cut-outs: one for the camera and the other for a white LED and the sensor that surrounds it. The LED is there to warn those around you that you’re recording.
I’m testing the basic Panto model with non-prescription sunglass lenses, which is available for $499 in the US. They weigh around 49 grams (1.7 ounces), with the light weight meaning you’ll never feel too confident about their ability to take a beating in the rough and tumble world. They’re on the larger end of the spectrum, where even on my face I feel like Anna Wintour grimacing through a particularly lackluster summer showcase. The Vive Eagle ships with a Vive-branded faux-leather case which looks like the sort of accessory you could snag from any optical retail store.
Internally, it’s the same product that arrived in Taiwan last year, with a Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 SoC, 4GB RAM and 32GB storage. The 235mAh battery will last for 4.5 hours playing music, three hours for calls and can sit in standby mode for 36 hours at a time. HTC hasn’t given specifics about the stereo speakers embedded in the arms beyond saying they’re “bass enhanced.” There’s a four-microphone array — one directional in the nose bridge and three omnidirectional. Rounding out the spec list is Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E, which you’ll use to transfer data from the glasses and to your phone.
As for the camera embedded in the left hinge, it’s a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor capable of shooting 3,024 x 4,032 stills and 1,512 x 2,016 vertical video. If you love documenting your own feats of derring and do, you can shoot slow motion vertical video at 120 frames per second at the greatly reduced resolution of 960 x 1,280. There’s a maximum upper limit of 10 minutes for every video clip, and HTC says that 32GB storage can hold up 3,000 photos, or up to 50 videos.
The Eagle has two buttons, one on the left arm which acts as an on/off switch and triggers the AI. The one on the right is the camera control. There’s a touchpad running down the right side which lets you scroll and tap to answer calls, control media playback and cycle through AI responses. Given the amount of smart glasses which don’t include enough physical controls, the variety here is worthy of praise.
As for charging, the Vive Eagle has two exposed pins on its left arm for its proprietary magnetic connector. HTC is aware that smart glasses are no good to you if they’re trapped in a charging cradle, so the 1.2 meter USB-C cable is long enough for you to walk around with your glasses on and a power bank in your pocket. But HTC is also selling Power Boost, a tiny 120mAh battery pack light enough to clip to the side of your glasses. It’s small enough that you’ll barely notice it, and it gives you at least half a battery’s worth of charge while on the go.
