After years of development, Google is launching its second foray into smart glasses with Intelligent Eyewear that supports Android and iOS. Pre-orders start today at Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, with the audio glasses shipping on December 10.

Intelligent Eyewear is meant to be worn all day rather than the sunglasses-heavy approach taken by others. The frames are 40-44 grams with the weight balanced evenly. 

There is a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera for photos and videos (3K 30FPS or 1080p). You get image stabilization and HDR processing, while four microphones work to provide spatial audio capture. Google is also quite proud of its noise cancellation work.

There are two open-ear speakers for balanced audio and clear vocals. Control is done by a touchpad that accepts taps and swipes, or via voice commands, with Google debuting a new “Hey Gemini” hotword.

Another way to control Intelligent Eyewear is through your Pixel Watch or Galaxy Watch, with Fitbit Air support coming next year:

Each pair features a physical on/off switch so you can “wear them as regular glasses only.” On the privacy front, there is a white indicator light when you take a photo or video that gets saved to your gallery. If the light is covered or maliciously disabled, the glasses will stop recording, with Google running a hardware check when they are charging. Recording also stops when you take off the glasses.

Notably, Gemini commands that invoke the camera — like visual search or translation — will not save images or videos to your Gemini History.

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