Talking to your glasses, or seeing with them.

Three criteria that decide the fork

Every pair of AI glasses has a microphone, a speaker, and a battery. What separates them is where the engineering budget went — and three questions settle it before you look at a single price.

1. Is there an image sensor? Visual AI is hardware, not a software tier.

“What am I looking at?” is not a feature that ships in an update. On the M02C, the wake word “Hey Cyan” summons an assistant that reasons about the scene in front of you because there is an 8 MP Sony IMX219 to reason from. A camera-free frame with a better assistant, a faster model, or a paid premium tier still cannot answer that question. This is the criterion that cannot be bought around later, so grade it first.

2. What does the assistant cost after you buy the frame?

Some assistant-first designs put the intelligence behind a recurring charge or an account you must hold. On OXIVUE frames the assistant and the two-way translation are included with the hardware through a free app (iOS 14+ / Android 9+, Bluetooth 5.4) — 40+ languages on the M08 family, 139 on the M14. No premium tier exists to sell you. Whether a frame is subscription-funded is structural; it will not change after your first month.

3. What weight and lens system will you actually wear all day?

Grams and lenses decide whether the frame lives on your face or in a drawer. Our everyday frames run ~41–42 g in Italian TR90 with photochromic, full-tint or clear lenses. The M14 is 52 g with a fixed one-piece shield — no lens swap at all. An assistant-first frame without a sensor will usually be lighter, and that is a legitimate reason to choose one.

The capture-first picks, ranked

1. OXIVUE M02C — $159 · the reference capture-first frame

Verdict: the one to buy if criterion 1 is why you are here. It is the only frame we make where a visual assistant is the point rather than a bonus.

• Sony IMX219, 8 MP, dual stabilisation — the sensor the visual AI reasons from.
• “Hey Cyan” wake word; assistant and 40+ language translation included, no subscription.
• IP65 — dust-tight and rain-resistant.
• ~41 g Italian TR90, our lightest camera frame; magnetic pogo charging, Bluetooth 5.4.
• Photochromic, sun, or clear lens. Chicago, IL warehouse — 5–9 business days in the US.

2. OXIVUE M08 — $149 · the lightest way into capture-first

Verdict: the same capture-first posture without the visual assistant. Buy it if the shot matters more to you than asking the glasses questions.

• 8 MP camera set flush in the frame corner, one touch, never always-on.
• ~42 g Italian TR90, Bluetooth 5.4, open-ear directional audio.
• 300 mAh: 7 h listening, 4 h calls, 2 h video, ~2 h to charge.
• 40+ language two-way translation; three lens choices; 5–9 business days in the US.

3. OXIVUE M08C — $169 · capture-first that reads as ordinary eyewear

Verdict: pick this if the room you work in would notice a camera frame. Same electronics as the M08, in metal trim.

• Gold or Silver trim on TR90 — 6 variants (2 metals × 3 lenses).
• 8 MP camera, ~42 g, 300 mAh: 7 h listening, 4 h calls, 2 h video.
• 40+ language two-way translation, useful across a meeting table.
• US-warehouse stock: 5–9 business days domestic, 9–14 international.

4. OXIVUE M14 — $199 · capture-first built for motion

Verdict:the outlier. A wrap shield for riding and running, with by far the widest language coverage — and none of the M08 family’s numbers.

• 52 g one-piece PC shield, 150 × 56 × 169 mm, IPX4.
• 139 languages via the HeyCyan app, against 40+ on the M08 family.
• 8 MP Sony IMX219 with EIS, 1080p 30 fps, 4 GB onboard memory.
• Battery inverted against the rest of the lineup: 4 h listening, 7 h calls.
• Four colourways (Nero, Azzurro, Ghiaccio, Tramonto), fixed shield, no lens swap. Ships in 9–14 business days.

When assistant-first is the right buy

Credit where it is due. If your week is dictation on a walk, a question mid-task, hands-free calls, and coaching cues while training, an assistant-first frame is genuinely the better object: lighter without a sensor, longer battery, and no camera to explain to the room. It also sidesteps the etiquette problem entirely — nobody tenses up around glasses that cannot see. That is worth more than most spec sheets admit.

Capture-first earns its place when the trigger is a moment you raised a phone at and lost (that is why this company exists), when you want an assistant that can answer about the thing in front of you, or when you work across languages — menus, signs and forms are visual problems, and two-way live translation plus a sensor covers more of the trip than audio alone. See the travel guide for that case in full.

The comparison that matters

Structural comparison by design philosophy rather than model-by-model spec sniping — individual products in this category iterate faster than any table can track.

Bottom line

Ask which half of the category you belong to before comparing prices, because the two do not substitute for each other. If it is capture-first, the M02C at $159 is the most complete frame we make and the M08 at $149 is the lightest way in — both with the assistant included and no subscription, both shipping from Chicago, IL in 5–9 business days, with a 2-year warranty; deciding afterward that you were shopping for the other half is a change of mind we cannot refund, so settle it before you order. Full specs on the comparison page.

Frequently asked questions