What do you get when you cross a pair of sunglasses with a world-class tech company? Meet Frames, Bose’s groundbreaking offering in the arena of hearables aka smart audio. The combination may, at first, sound contrived, and had Bose executed these wearables differently; the result could very easily have been awkward. But, spoiler, Bose (mostly) got it right.
Before we take a closer look at the pros and cons of Frames, it is worth asking if there is any point in yet another intelligent audio offering given that we already have smart speakers with Alexa and Google assistant. That is a valid question: why indeed? The answer is simple: because you can’t take a smart speaker for a walk.
No doubt smart speakers are fantastic entertainers and information valets. However, their value-add is mostly in your home and your car. Ask a question, request a song, even order an item from Amazon, and you will most likely get what you need. But when you are out and about, your smart assistant needs are a little different. Sure you have Voice control on your smartphone, but speaking into your smartphone is not quite the same as spontaneously saying something out loud and getting an intelligent response from an electronic device as you might at home.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
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