3 things I learned from an hour with Tecno’s AI glasses

Tecno, the Chinese phone company that recently gained attention for its budget foldables, is venturing into AI wearables. The company unveiled a concept for its first pair of AI glasses at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025. Tecno aims for its AI glasses to “transform the wearable AI space,” promising to do so through imaging capabilities, smart assistant functionality, and immersive AR features.

The wearable concept will reportedly launch as a two-product series: Tecno AI Glasses and the AI Glasses Pro. Both are slated to be available in two styles (Eyebrow Frame and Aviator). According to the company, the glasses use a magnesium alloy and other “ultra-light composite materials” to minimize weight.

The glasses will be powered by voice commands or a gentle tap on the temples, activating Tecno Ella, an AI assistant. Ella promises to manage daily tasks, including accessing to-do lists, providing recommendations, offering real-time navigation, summarizing information, and more.

I had a brief hands-on experience with a prototype of these glasses and gained some insights. These insights primarily revolved around thoughts on AI wearables that I hadn’t considered until trying them on.

3

Wearables should be inconspicuous

Huge, bulky, and inconvenient tech puts me off. While the pricey $3,500 Apple Vision Pro offers compelling features, wearing 650 grams of aluminum and glass on my head is impractical. Similarly, the 385-gram AirPods Max and its odd, diaper-looking carry case are awkward to carry or stow away.

Wearable tech should be inconspicuous. Full stop. As with all accessories, less is more. I came to this conclusion when I tried Ray-Ban’s Meta Smart Glasses. Although they weigh a feather-light 49 grams, the spectacles were clumsy and unwieldy.

Tecno hasn’t figured out the secret sauce with its AI glasses prototypes. If anything, it’s more pronounced than on with the Meta Smart Glasses. Although the Pro model comes in at 48 grams and the base model is 37 grams, both felt bulky and unseemly. While sitting awkwardly at the bridge of my nose, the glasses were unforgettable. However, not in the way I, and presumably Tecono, hoped they’d be.

2

If I’m spending $300 on a pair of glasses, I, at least, want a display

I echo the complaints of many underwhelmed users and reviewers when I say that the lack of a display on a $300 pair of glasses is an omission too big to ignore. Smart glasses are something I imagine I’d wear for most, if not all, of the day. It needs to handle everything my phone can, and then some. For most of that stuff, a display is non-negotiable. Audio output isn’t enough, especially in spaces that are loud or don’t allow audio. Having multiple forms of output also gives a gadget accessibility points.

Not to make this a Tecno versus Meta/Ray-Bans piece, but I appreciated the inclusion of a display on Tecno’s AI Glasses Pro. A single tap on the temple area powered it on, and swiping along the side cycled through options like Settings, Camera, Navigation, Teleprompter, Music, and To-do lists. Selecting an option required another tap, and a double tap returned to the previous menu. There’s something about visual feedback and manual control that audio-only output can’t match.

Even after a little shameless digging about the rough price of these glasses, Tecno didn’t give me an estimate. Instead, Tecno said “they’ll be considerably cheaper than the Metas.” If this promise is true, offering a display that handles several tasks for a “considerably less” price than the Metas is impressive.

The Tecno AI Glasses’ base model doesn’t sport a display, but I can forgive a budget model for lacking all the bells and whistles of its more expensive sibling. After all, that’s how they’re often marketed.

1

An all-day battery life is not a lot to expect from a gadget

I don’t know when or why we became convinced that it’s okay for gadgets worth hundreds of dollars to last a few hours, especially when the gadget is marketed as an all-day companion. I found the four-hour battery life on the AirPods Pro low, as well as the four-hour life on the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses. If I’m investing $300 in a pair of glasses that promises to make my day easier, it must make it through the day without a top off.

When I say “all-day battery life,” I don’t mean a full 24 hours. All-day means the number of hours you’d normally interact with a device (12 hours is a good score). This is why the promised 11-hour battery life on Tecno’s AI Glasses impressed me. What’s better is that the base model lasts as long. The same 250mAh battery embedded inside both models handles their long lives.

Glasses that need to be recharged throughout the day defeat the purpose of always-on wearables like smart glasses. Still, there’s often a wide bridge between the battery life listed on a spec sheet vs. real-world use, and I’d expect the same with Tecno’s AI Glasses. Even if the battery life doesn’t quite live up to Tecno’s claim, it will still outpace Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses.

Tecno’s keeping mum on pricing and availability

Tecno was extremely tight-lipped about its glasses’ price and availability. All we know about their price is that it’ll be “considerably less” than Meta’s. Availability-wise, I was told “likely in Q3 of 2025”. Functionality-wise, nothing has officially launched that I could get hands-on experience with.

All the aforementioned features are currently unusable, and the most I could do was cycle between them. Apart from how the glasses look and feel, there isn’t much to comment on. Still, the slated specs, such as a generous battery life and a full-screen display, are reasons enough to look forward to the release, but is it enough to compete with Big Tech’s grip on this emerging market?