Judy Dixon
In 2018, Envision, a Netherlands-based company, launched the Envision AI app for iOS and Android. Initially, the app had basic reading, identifying, and finding components, but as time went by, more features were added.
Two years later, in 2020, Envision launched the Envision Glasses that include most of the same software components as the app, but with this release, those functions also became available on the Google Glass Enterprise hardware.
The Envision AI App
The glasses function as an adjunct to the Envision AI app which runs on both iOS and Android. Before we discuss the glasses further, let's have a quick look at the companion app as it exists today. The Envision AI app has several text-reading, object recognition, and people finding functions. You can teach the app to find your spouse so you can easily locate him or her in large gatherings. Both the iOS and Android apps have five tabs across the bottom:
Read: Instantly read text, scan documents, or open the library;
Identify: Describe a scene, detect colors, or scan a product barcode;
Find: Find objects, people, or teach the app to recognize a face;
Glasses: Request a demo or pair Envision Glasses; and
Settings: Check account details, get support, or change app settings.
Initially, the app was subscription-based but as of June 2022, the app is now completely free.
The Glasses
The Envision Glasses that are being reviewed for this article are running software version 1.8.1. At present, the glasses perform all of the functions within the Envision AI app except barcode scanning. The glasses do have a few functions that are not found in the Envision AI app. These include: recognize cash, light detector, recognize QR code, call an ally, Call an Aira Agent, and Explore. These features will be explained fully later in this article.
A major step forward occurred in the summer of 2022 when the Envision Glasses were upgraded to support Aira, the popular visual interpreter service. Calls to Aira can be made directly from the glasses. Aira agents have a wide view in front of the user. The user can hear the agent from the speaker on the glasses.
Because most of the functions available on the glasses require an Internet connection, the glasses must be connected to wi-fi. When you are outdoors, this can be the hotspot on your phone. Envision has a very clever way of entering a password for a wi-fi connection. If you go to www.letsenvision.com/qr, you will be at a very simple page that asks you to enter a wi-fi password. Once you type in the password for the wi-fi network, you tab to Create Wi-fi QR and press Enter. The QR code appears on your computer screen. Then all you need to do is use the Scan a QR Code function from the glasses, and you are connected to that wi-fi network.
The glasses also have Bluetooth capability so they can be connected to Bluetooth earbuds, a Bluetooth speaker, or hearing aids. Wired USB-c headphones can also be connected directly to the USB-c charging port. Alternatively, you can use a USB-c to audio adapter to connect traditional wired headphones.
Physical Description
Out of the box, the glasses consist of the body and the frame. The body is a thick bar that replaces the right arm of the glasses frame. This is where all the electronics are housed. It extends from the camera pointing forward from a spot just above the right eye, back along the right temple which is where the touchpad is located. It ends several inches behind the right ear. The small power button is located on the inside of the body very near the back end. A small speaker is located on the inside of the body just in front of the Power button. The USB-c charging port is located at the back end of the body.
The included frame is a very lightweight titanium wire which extends across above both eyes. There are no lenses and no wire under the eyes. The frame is hinged at both temples. On the right side, there is a button at the point where the frame joins the body. This button is used for voice commands. On the left side, the frame extends as a fairly thin wire back to the left ear. Depending on which frame you purchase, you may have to attach your frame to the body. There are instructions for doing this in the Help Center on the Envision website. See the section later in this article on Optional Accessories for a discussion of alternative frames.
Initial Setup
To begin using the glasses, they first need to be paired with the app. This is required for the glasses to communicate with the app but they get their Internet connection from wi-fi. Once paired, the app will guide you through the process of connecting the glasses to wi-fi. After the setup is complete, the glasses present a very comprehensive gesture tutorial. It starts by showing you exactly where the touchpad is located, and proceeds through the six one-finger gestures, then the three two-finger gestures. After teaching each gesture, the tutorial goes on to what Envision calls "The Playground." This is where you can perform any gesture and the device will tell you what that gesture does. This tutorial provides a significant amount of practice with each gesture to be sure you've got it right.
In addition to the onboard tutorials, you will get an email inviting you to attend a 90-minute, one-on-one onboarding session. You can select a time of your choosing using a very accessible scheduling program called Calendly.
The knowledgeable Envision representative will help you set up your Envision Glasses. They will walk you through any of the setup steps that you have yet to complete, and describe and demonstrate all of the various functions of the glasses. They will answer any questions you might have.
Main Menu
Each time you turn on the glasses, you will be at the Home position, and the glasses will helpfully announce "Home." From here, a one-finger double tap will cause the glasses to speak the time, date, battery level, and current wi-fi network. A two-finger single tap will speak the current software version.
Swiping forward on the touchpad with one finger will move through the available options on the Main Menu. Swiping back on the touchpad with one finger will take you to your Favorites.
There are six items on the Main Menu: Read, Call, Identify, Find, Settings, and Help. On each item, a single double tap activates the item; a two finger single tap will open a context menu; and a one-finger tap and hold will provide additional information. Let's have a look at each of these.
Read
The Read menu contains three items: Instant Text, Scan Text and Batch Scan. The Envision glasses can recognize more than 60 languages. Instant Text can be used without an Internet connection but Scan Text and Batch Mode both require the Internet to function.
Instant Text will use a continuous video function to read whatever text the glasses can see. A one-finger single tap will pause and resume the reading of text. A one-finger double tap will reset the reading of instant text and cause the glasses to start instantly detecting text again.
The context menu lets you turn offline mode on or off so you can use instant text without an Internet connection. The offline mode only allows the reading of Latin-based languages. You can also choose the language you would like the glasses to recognize. By default, it uses the language in which the glasses are set, but this can be easily changed from the context menu.
Scan Text uses the device's camera function to take a picture of text. This feature is meant for whole pages of text that may have complex layouts. Scan Text can also recognize handwritten text. The context menu for Scan Text allows you to set four optional features:
Smart Guidance: Detects the edges of the document and provides guidance on the direction to move the document for the best position;
Layout Detection: Detects headings and columns;
Language Detection: Useful for multilingual documents or for documents in a language other than the default language on the glasses; and
Word Detection: Emits a tone to indicate the amount of text that is visible. The higher the tone, the more text the glasses can see.
Smart Guidance and Word Detection are mutually exclusive. The scanned text is opened in a reader which allows you to pause and resume reading and navigate to various portions of the document. With scanned Text in the reader, you can use the context menu to export it to the Envision AI app on the phone as text or PDF. In the Envision AI app, saved documents appear in the Library.
Batch Scan allows you to scan multiple pages one after another. They are processed and presented to you as a whole document that you can read continuously or navigate by phrases, paragraphs, or pages.
Call
There are two items on the Call menu, Call an Ally and Call an Aira Agent. Both of these options provide a one-way video and two-way audio connection.
An ally can be any sighted person who can run the Envision Ally app on their iOS or Android phone. You can add an ally from the Envision app or if an ally downloads the app, the person can optionally send you a message with a link that automatically adds that ally in the Envision AI app.
The Call an Aira Agent feature requires that the Envision Glasses be updated to software version 1.8 or later. The first time you access this item from the glasses, you will be told that you must connect your Aira account. This involves opening explorer.aira.io in a web browser, logging into your Aira account, selecting Connect Envision Glasses, and scanning the QR code with the glasses. During a call with an Aira agent, you can control the volume during the call by doing a one-finger swipe forward to increase the volume or a one-finger swipe back to decrease the volume.
Identify
There are five items on the Identify menu:
Describe Scene: Takes a picture of the area in front of you and provides a general description;
Detect Light: Emits tones or beeps to indicate the presence and amount of light;
Recognize Cash: Recognizes currency, you can select which currency you want to recognize from a list of over 100 currencies. This feature is an implementation of the Cash Reader app that is built into the software suite for the glasses.
Scan QR Code: Recognizes text-based QR codes; and
Detect Colors: identifies the colors of the item in front of the camera.
Find
There are three items on the Find menu:
Detect Object: Beeps when one of 15 possible objects is in range;
Find People: Beeps if a person is in view. Speaks the name of a person whose face you have taught in the Envision AI app;
Explore: Identifies various objects and people in the environment.
Settings
There are eleven items on the Settings menu. Several of them are categories containing multiple settings, while others are single settings:
Audio: Includes Change Volume, Change Speed, and Change Voice. The volume can be changed at any time with a two-finger swipe up gesture. There are nine possible voice options.
Wi-fi: Includes options for adding and removing wi-fi networks. Wi-fi passwords can be entered with a QR code;
Bluetooth: Scans for available Bluetooth devices. Here you can connect to Bluetooth earbuds or headphones, speakers, or hearing aids.
Voice Commands: Turn Voice Commands on or off.
Software: Speaks current software version and checks for updates.
Language: Allows changing of default language for the glasses.
Feature Preferences: Contains Instant Text preferences, Scan Text Preferences, and Teach Faces, Add Ally, and Favorites. The Teach Faces, Add Ally, and Favorites functions here send a notification to the phone. By default, Instant Text and Scan Text are added as favorites. You can remove one or both of these and add additional items that you may prefer.
Display: Turns small visual display next to the camera on or off.
Time Format: Sets 12- or 24-hour time format.
Pairing Mode: Puts the glasses in pairing mode if you need to repair the connection.
Power: Speaks current battery level, puts the glasses to sleep, or turns power off.
Help
The Help menu contains three items:
Trainings: Includes Smart Guidance Training, Gestures Introduction Training, and Gestures Practice Training.
Manuals: Includes the following manual, Voice Commands, Instant Text, Scan Text, Batch Scan, Reader, Call and Ally, Describe Scene, Detect Light, Recognize Cash, Scan QR Code, Detect Colors, Find Object, Find People, and Explore.
About Your Envision Glasses: Contains software version number, serial number, Mac address, privacy policy and terms of use, and reset device.
Voice Commands
There is also some limited control of the glasses by voice. If you press and hold the Hinge button, you will hear a tone to let you know that the glasses are now listening for a voice command. Here is a complete list of the voice commands that are available as of this writing:
Go home
Instant Text
Scan Text
Batch Scan
Call an Ally
Call an Aira Agent
Describe Scene
Detect Light
Recognize Cash
Detect Colors
Find Object
Find People
Explore
Change Volume
Optional Accessories
It is possible to use the Envision Glasses with the titanium frames that are included with them. These frames are very lightweight and the body with all the electronics runs along the right temple.
There are two optional frames which can be purchased at an additional cost, the Smith Optics frames and the Lux frames. Both frames come with clear lenses, but your local optician can install darker or prescription lenses if you prefer.
Battery and Power Management
The Envision Glasses can operate for four to six hours on battery, depending on what type of activity you are performing. A USB-c charging port is at the very end of the body portion of the device. The glasses are capable of being fast charged. A 20-watt power adapter can bring the glasses to 50% of its full power capacity in 30 minutes.
Power can be preserved with the use of the device's sleep mode. There are five ways to put the glasses into sleep mode:
Briefly press the Power button;
Perform a two-finger swipe down from the home screen;
Wait 30 seconds when the device is on the home screen and the device will automatically enter sleep mode;
Navigate to Settings, Power, Put Your Envision Glasses to Sleep; and
Fold the glasses.
As the glasses enter Sleep Mode, an ascending two-note audio click will sound to confirm that the glasses have gone to sleep. A one-finger double tap will wake them up again.
Software Updates
You will be notified if a software update is available. To update the glasses, go to Settings, then Software. You will be instructed to do a one-finger double tap to check for updates. If an update is available, you will be informed and instructed to do another one-finger double tap to start the update.
Getting Help
There is an enormous amount of documentation and training materials available for the Envision Glasses. The Envision website includes a Help Center and Envision offers a free virtual demonstration of the Envision Glasses for potential customers. If possible, they will arrange an in-person demo.
In the box, there is a card that contains a print quick start guide. In braille it says "Go to envisionglasses.com." This website contains the text of the Quick Start guide. Curiously, it doesn't tell you the location of the power button nor does it give instructions on how to turn the glasses on.
Pricing and Availability
At present, the Envision Glasses can be purchased for $2,499 directly from Envision at www.letsenvision.com. The Smith Optics frames are $399 and the Lux frames are $150. These items can also be purchased from one of their distributors. In addition to the free, 90-minute onboarding session, Envision also offers a 30-day money back guarantee.
Those who purchased a subscription to the Envision AI app are considered Envision Pioneers. Pioneers are afforded several perks by Envision including 10% off of the purchase price of the Envision Glasses.
Conclusion
The two main advantages of the Envision Glasses over using a smartphone to perform similar functions is hands-free capability and an expanded field of view of your surroundings.
Envision plans to continue adding features and expanding the capabilities of their app and glasses through partnerships with other app developers. In recent podcasts and webinars, Envision management has indicated that new features and partnerships are on the horizon. More features will be able to run in offline mode, the Envision AI and Envision Ally apps will be released as web-based apps making them accessible from desktop computers, and Envision will soon be coming to the BlindShell 2 as well as other devices.
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
