I tried Halliday's AI smart glasses and they beat my Ray-Ban Metas in key ways

At CES this year, several trends dominate the showcased products, including AI and smart glasses. Despite the fierce competition, Halliday's smart glasses stood out because of their impressive design and performance, which emphasize comfort.   

The Halliday smart glasses unveiled at CES have an invisible display; that is, the display is not built into the lens, but rather integrated into the frame. This is made possible by using what the company calls the world's smallest optical module. Despite its 3.6mm size, the display provides users with a field of view similar to that of a 3.5-inch screen. 

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The major advantage of such a small display is that the frames are very light, weighing just 35 grams. Compared to the 48-gram Meta Ray-Bans I wore to the event, these felt noticeably lighter. The frames have a classic, sleek design, a battery that lasts up to 12 hours, a microphone, and speakers -- and come in three colors: Amber, Black, and Gradient. 

Enough of the hardware: Here's the part you've been waiting for -- the display. 

The tiny display is located just above the right lens, meaning you have to look up to see it, as seen in the photo of me at the top of the article. Although this may seem unnatural, it was pretty comfortable. Placing the graphics slightly above your field of view is helpful because it doesn't obstruct your view when looking straight ahead. 

The display shows your graphics, such as icons, words, and texts, in green. You can use that Digi Window display for a variety of functions, such as AI real-time translations in more than 40 languages; teleprompter text; notes; notifications such as texts, music titles, and lyrics; and even turn-by-turn navigation.

In my demo, I went through several of these features, all of which focused on displaying text. I was able to comfortably read the text shown to me -- a surprise, as I wear prescription eyeglasses that can make it challenging to demo this type of technology. There is also a dial you can rotate to match your eye prescription and a slide to adjust the display position.

The Halliday Glasses retail for $489. However, if you choose to reserve the glasses now, you can do so for a $9.90 deposit that locks in a launch day exclusive price of $369. The price is fair when compared to Even Realities' Even G1 smart glasses, which are similar in function and retail for $599.