Solos takes on Ray-Ban Meta with GPT-4o smart glasses

Meta basically had the smart glasses market to itself with Ray-Ban. Now, Solos is ready to crash the party.

Smart eyewear maker Solos just announced the AirGo Vision, a new pair of frames rocking a corner-mounted front camera designed to go head-to-head with Meta's AI specs.

GPT-4o on your face with model switching

The AirGo Vision uses its camera to analyze whatever is right in front of you. Solos says it can handle visual search, pull up shopping summaries, help with cooking steps, and assist with real-time navigation.

While Solos claims it is the first smart glasses to tap into ChatGPT-4o, the real kicker is its open setup. You are not locked into OpenAI, meaning you can swap over to Google Gemini or Anthropic Claude whenever you want.

The hardware design is also pretty clever. Instead of shoving the camera into the lens frame, Solos embedded it directly into the glasses arm. Because the tech lives in the temples, the front frames remain modular, letting you swap out styles whenever you feel like changing your look.

Stills only, with a cheaper option next month

There is one notable limitation compared to Meta: the AirGo Vision lets you snap photos using voice controls, but it does not record video at all.

Just like the Ray-Ban Meta, it packs an LED light in the frame. It flashes to let people nearby know you are taking a photo, and doubles as an alert light for incoming phone notifications.

Solos plans to release the AirGo Vision later this year, though pricing is still under wraps. If you do not care about a camera, Solos is dropping three camera-free models with the LED notification system in July for $250, available as full glasses or separate modular pieces. This follows a recent firmware update that brought Live Search to existing AirGo glasses.

Why it matters

For anyone tired of Meta holding all the cards in smart glasses, this is the first serious alternative in a while. The promise of hands-free visual AI is great, but lock-in has always been a looming problem for early adopters.

In our view, Solos made a brilliant move by treating AI models like swappable software instead of building a walled garden. Letting users toggle between GPT-4o, Claude, and Gemini gives the hardware way more runway as the underlying models race each other.

The modular frame trick is another practical win that fashion-conscious buyers will appreciate. That said, leaving out video recording is a massive compromise that could hold it back, considering point-of-view video is one of the main reasons people actually buy Ray-Ban Metas. Its success will entirely hinge on how Solos prices the Vision when it ships later this year.