Huawei X Gentle Monster Eyewear II

Wearable tech used to be terrible. Think clunky, chunky devices that missed the mark on just about everything, from fashion to function. But times have changed – thankfully – and now wearable technology can look as good as its non-smart counterparts.

Huawei X Gentle Monster Eyewear II sunglasses fit into that category. Huawei’s smart eyewear not only does a decent job at keeping your eyes shaded from the winter sun, they also give you a way to listen to your podcasts and music while you walk. It eliminates the need to have to carry separate headphones with you at all times.

The design certainly doesn’t scream “tech”. Perhaps that’s because it’s a collaboration between the tech company and Gentle Monster, a South Korean glasses manufacturer. The glasses themselves are slightly oversized (for me), but other than that there is very little to distinguish them from a standard pair of sunglasses.

They work via semi-open speakers instead of bone-conduction technology, which was a bonus for me. I have mixed results with bone-conduction headphones. They seem like a good idea, especially if you need to have a good idea of what’s going on around you, but the sound quality may not live up to what you expect.

Because they are semi-open speakers instead, you eliminate the excessive vibration at low or high frequencies, and you don’t lose as much detail in the sound. Is it as good as my noise-cancelling headphones? No, but it certainly beats the bone-conduction option.

Sound leak

There is less sound leak from these glasses than there is from some in-ear buds. If you’ve ever stood beside someone blaring music at 7am on a Monday and had to suffer the tinny sound leak, you can rest assured that, although these are not perfectly silent to the outside world, listeners would have to strain to distinguish any words unless you really crank up the volume. That’s not a problem for the wearer though. The audio is surprisingly clear and retains a lot of the detail even though the speakers are small.

You can use the glasses to control your audio too, with a series of taps and swipes on the frame to play and pause your tracks, skip to the next song or control the volume. You can also activate your phone’s digital assistant. The tap controls were a bit hit-and-miss at times; I found myself tapping frantically along the edge of the frame to pause a track.

The swipe controls worked much better, particularly for the volume controls. When you raise the sunglasses from your face, the audio will automatically pause and then resume within a matter of seconds once you drop them back to your nose.

Charging is easy: you simply pop the sunglasses into the case. The leather-look case plugs into a USB-C cable to charge, so it will not only protect your glasses but also keep them powered up.

They seemed to pick up fingerprints quite easily, so do keep a cloth handy unless you want to peer through a smudged mess.

The good:

Two in one: you can wear sunglasses and not have to bother with headphones. Because the glasses leave your ears free, you can wear them while cycling or running and still be aware of what is going on around you. You don’t have to sacrifice much on the audio front, although if you are a fan of bass-heavy music you might find these a little weak on that front. The automatic pause was a handy feature, so you don’t miss out if you need to lift the glasses briefly.

The not so good:

If you are expecting the sound quality to rival your over-ear or earbud-style headphones, you may be disappointed. There is definitely more detail than with bone-conduction earphones but once you get into a noisier environment you will lose a little of that as your audio competes with the ambient noise in the background. The case doesn’t have its own battery, so you will need to have access to a power outlet to charge the glasses.

The rest:

The glasses have touch controls on both sides of the frame, allowing you to control your audio without taking your phone from your pocket. Indoors and at night they aren’t as useful.

The verdict:

Expensive glasses but a handy multifunctional device that allows you to keep your focus on what is going on around you.