Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is likely to be a European tech present, however for the previous few years, the occasion has largely been dominated by Chinese language telephone firms similar to Xiaomi and Honor. This yr, they had been joined by tech big Alibaba, which launched its Qwen sensible glasses on the present — and having tried them, all I’ve to say is, Meta ought to watch its again.

The Qwen glasses are among the many first wearable units Alibaba is constructing on prime of its Qwen AI household of enormous language fashions, and the corporate introduced two totally different fashions to the MWC. 

The primary pair, the Qwen S1 specs, have a heads-up waveguide show etched into the lenses, and function a rival to Meta’s Ray-Ban Display mannequin (minus the gesture management). My first impression of those AR glasses was that they had been gentle and comfy to put on — I would not have identified that they had been sensible glasses by their weight alone. On the finish of every arm are swappable batteries, which snap off simply so you may preserve the glasses operating for longer whenever you’re on the go.

I activated the glasses with the phrase “Hey Qwennie,” which it picked up with its 5 microphones. I then requested it to finish a variety of primary duties, together with asking the system to take a photograph and to inform me what I used to be after I held a photograph of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia in entrance of my face.

I may see a miniature model of the picture I captured within the inexperienced show, and the glasses had been in a position to reply my architectural question each by displaying textual content within the heads-up show and thru the bone conduction constructed into the arms of the S1. Maybe my favourite characteristic, although, was the turn-by-turn instructions. This characteristic felt prefer it may turn out to be important for navigating a busy metropolis, and much more handy than utilizing a telephone or smartwatch.

I additionally tried out the teleprompter characteristic, which scrolled as I learn out loud from the textual content showing on the show however should confess I did not discover it fairly as straightforward to observe as the same demo I attempted earlier within the week on the MemoMind One glasses. With the Qwen sales space assistant speaking to me in Chinese language, I used to be in a position to see and listen to the English translation of her phrases on the show and in my ear concurrently, though there was sufficient of a delay to forestall our communication from being totally clean.

The second pair of glasses Alibaba delivered to the present had been the Qwen G1 glasses, which lack the heads-up show current on the S1, however in any other case supply just about the identical options because of the microphones, cameras and bone-conduction.

On the entire, I used to be impressed by the look, really feel, sound high quality and capabilities of those glasses, which for many individuals is likely to be their first introduction to Alibaba’s Qwen AI (by the use of the Qwen App, which is built-in with the specs). In China, the place preorders for the glasses are already reside, individuals carrying the glasses will be capable of full duties similar to ordering meals or hailing a cab fully fingers free.

Alibaba mentioned pricing for the G1 glasses will begin at round $275 (for comparability, Meta’s Ray-Ban Gen 2 glasses value $379), however did not say how a lot the extra superior S1 glasses will value. Official gross sales in China will start on March 8, with Alibaba promising a world rollout that includes integration with well-liked world companies scheduled for an unspecified date later in 2026.