CES 2025: Holliday’s Smart Glasses Are Ready to Compete With Ray-Ban
Smart glasses are gaining traction right now—as these gadgets gradually become more useful and less ugly—and Halliday glasses are the latest pair to debut at CES 2025 (and yes, the company is named after the inventor of the virtual world). in Ready Player One ).
The lightweight specs weigh just 35 grams (1.2 ounces) and have a couple of cool features: the first is a small built-in monochrome green display that projects information directly onto your eyeball. This can be used to display anything from incoming messages to responses to web searches.
Secondly, there is an optional smart ring available that allows you to control the glasses using gestures: it seems to work like a miniature trackpad. You don’t have to use the ring, however, as you can also tap on the side of the features or use voice commands to navigate the interface.
Of course, there’s also some artificial intelligence involved here, which appears to be powered by Proactiva.AI , at least in part (Halliday didn’t say too much about the AI models or how they work). The AI assistant runs from your connected smartphone and offers real-time translation, document summaries, notification management, and the usual AI chatbot responses to any questions you have about life, the universe, and everything in between.
Halliday’s promotional materials also mention turn-by-turn navigation right in front of your eyes via the built-in display, although, as with artificial intelligence, there aren’t many details about how it works or what powers it. Music playback is also mentioned, and the maximum battery life is around 12 hours.
“AI glasses shouldn’t make you look like a weirdo or annoy you with annoying display issues,” says Holliday , addressing one of my key goals in life: not looking like a weirdo. “Halliday embodies everyday design, featuring the world’s smallest optical module, eliminating light leakage and rainbow effects while offering practical features for everyday use.”
The obvious comparison here is the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, which we reviewed last year and were very impressed with. As with Halliday glasses, they look like regular glasses, which is an important first step in creating a product that people actually want to wear on their face.
The Meta’s smart features don’t come with a display like Halliday Glasses, instead relying on built-in speakers to relay information to you. They are controlled by voice and gestures, and have built-in artificial intelligence that will answer your pressing questions about sports scores or restaurant addresses.
What the Meta glasses do have is a built-in camera for taking photos and videos on the go, which the Halliday does not feature. The Ray-Ban Meta Glasses are slightly heavier at 49 grams (1.7 ounces), offer about four hours of battery life, and start at $329 for the most basic pair. Both Halliday and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses support prescription lenses when needed.
Holliday is bringing them to market through a crowdsourcing campaign and launching Kickstarter later this month. Right now there’s an early bird offer on Halliday’s website where you can save $10 and get Halliday glasses for $370 (with free prescription lens upgrades). It is expected that by the time the crowdfunding launches, their retail price will be $490.
New smart glasses are expected to arrive later this year , but as both Halliday glasses and Ray-Ban Meta glasses show, some compromises are still necessary: adding a camera, for example, means adding weight and reducing battery life. The success or failure of this particular pairing may depend on how well the built-in display works and how useful the connected AI assistant proves to be.