North, formerly known as Thalmic Labs, has launched Focals, a pair of custom-built glasses with a transparent, holographic display that only the wearer can see, floating at arm’s length in front of them. Users can see and respond to texts, get turn-by-turn directions, check the weather, request an Uber, talk to Amazon Alexa and more.
Focals come in two styles (classic and round), three colours (Black, Tortoise, and Grey Fade) and offer either prescription or non-prescription lenses. The glasses are controlled by Loop, a wearable ring that comes in two colours, Black and Copper. Focals are available to pre-order now, priced at $999.
The price includes the Focals and a Loop controller, a service package, a charging case and sun clips. Classic frames will begin to ship before the end of the year, while orders including round frames will ship in 2019. Prescription lenses will be available to order starting in 2019.
Analyst Comment
The Focals have a case with a battery that can re-charge the glasses multiple times and battery life is claimed as 15 hours (which we assume is the glasses, not based on multiple charges). The display is described as a ‘full colour, holographic, retinal projection display’. Few details have been released so far, though.
Thalmic has previously worked on muscle tracking for gesture and hand input and was well funded by Intel among others (Thalmic Raises $120 Million for Gesture Input) (
After publication, we also spotted a video review by Tom’s Hardware that has a video of the display performance. BR)
