A new player has entered the tech arena with a bold vision to redefine our interaction with reality. Brilliant Labs, based in Singapore, has introduced Frame — AR glasses they describe as “pocket-sized AR for creative hackers”, as detailed on their website Brilliant.xyz.
These AI-powered smart glasses are not just a fashion accessory — they’re an open platform for developers eager to experiment with augmented reality and shape the digital world of tomorrow.
Frame is an evolution of the company’s earlier Monocle project, now with greater ambition. The glasses feature a 640×400 OLED color display, 720p camera, microphone, and FPGA processor for accelerated graphics.
Weighing just 40 grams, with sleek 6mm lenses and a 210mAh built-in battery, they look like regular glasses but pack serious AI power. Their standout feature is Noa, an assistant based on ChatGPT that can answer questions, translate text, and generate images — right in front of your eyes. All of this is accessible via an app or voice commands, and the open-source code lets users customize functionality to their needs.
Brilliant Labs emphasizes openness: full documentation and source code are available at docs.brilliant.xyz, and the developer community is active on Discord.
Founder Bobak Tavangar, a former Apple engineer, sees Frame as the “Raspberry Pi of AR” — an affordable device for experimentation. Priced at $349, it competes with headsets like the Oculus Quest but focuses on portability and accessibility.
Note: using Noa requires credits (2,000 free per month, paid beyond that), which has stirred some debate.
The company has already drawn attention: in 2023, Brilliant Labs raised $3 million in seed funding, and by March 2025, Frame shipments are in full swing. Their mission: build an ecosystem for a “new internet” — one where the physical and digital worlds converge.
But challenges remain. As noted by Sypnotix, some users see Frame more as a geek toy than a consumer-ready product due to complex setup and limited out-of-the-box features. Others praise its potential — from education to real-time navigation.
The question remains: will Frame become the new standard in AR — or stay a niche experiment? One thing is clear: Brilliant Labs is challenging tech giants like Meta and Apple — and this is just the beginning.
