Throughout my day the one thing I find myself constantly doing is listening to music. No matter where I am, I’ve got something playing in my ear(s). However, this can sometimes be distracting or problematic. For starters, I occasionally need to hear co-workers who strike up a conversation. Then there are important noises or sounds that need to be heard.
I have a concern that earbuds/earphones block out sounds that are important or vital, such as a car honking, a siren, and someone trying to get your attention. And while ambient listening mode is nice for earbuds, that’s not always the best approach.
With Fauna’s Designer Smart Glasses one can listen to audio while being fully aware of their surroundings. Best of all, you can look stylish while doing so. Our friends at Fauna were gracious enough to provide us with a pair of its glasses so that we may bring you this review.
Features
- Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity
- Water resistant
- Touch controls
- Hands-free phone calls
- Swap out lenses for prescription from optometrist or optician
- Two-year warranty
Style
The Fauna Glasses I had the privilege of reviewing were the Spiro Transparent Brown Glasses. Let me tell you, these sunglasses truly are stylish and they are high quality, too.
The glass lens does a great job of blocking out the sun while not darkening out the rest of your surroundings. The glasses fit my average sized head very well and the speakers on the temples do not bulk out; they are only as thick as a pencil. The charging case of the glasses is a slick dark green and is about the size of a hotdog bun.
User Experience
Fauna’s smart glasses feature controls on the temples that can change the volume, control your phone’s voice assistant, and direct incoming phone calls.
To turn the volume up and down you must swipe left or right on the temple of the sunglasses, this changes the volume one notch per swipe.
The phone call feature on the glasses works great for receiving and declining calls without ever touching your phone. Furthermore, using your phones voice assistant, you can easily call specific people again without touching your phone.
In terms of connectivity the glasses use Bluetooth to connect to your phone, and truth be told, I did have some trouble getting the glasses to connect to my phone automatically. It only seemed to connect if I went into my phone’s Bluetooth setting and did it manually or used the force pairing tool located on the right temple of the glasses.
Audio quality
The glasses audio quality is different than anything I have experienced. It allows you to clearly hear what is going on around you while still being able to hear clear audio from the glasses. It’s worth noting that the audio from the glasses can be heard by others near you when the volume is maxed out. They’re much louder than anticipated.
The audio and microphone in the glasses work fantastic while on a phone call — you can hear the person on the phone clearly and they can hear you. The surround sound system on the glasses works well with a clear distinction of what side of the head the audio is coming from.
The audio and microphone in the glasses work fantastic while on a phone call — you can hear the person on the phone clearly and they can hear you. The surround sound system on the glasses works well with a clear distinction of what side of the head the audio is coming from.
To be clear, this is not anything close to the experience that you get from earbuds. At pretty much any price point you’re bound to end up with generally better audio. Earbuds tend to submerge you into the music or audio whereas the glasses allow for it, almost like an extra benefit. I think the smart glasses are much better for listening to music casually. Books, podcasts, sports, talk radio, phone calls, and other spoken formats do great here.
The glasses are very heavy on the treble but bass is at least present. It’s different than what I am accustomed to with earbuds and is not overly low or impactful. But, to be fair, the glasses do a decent job of representing lower levels.
Battery Life
The battery for the glasses and the included case is fantastic. The glasses lasts more than 10 hours away from its case. I have the sunglasses on from morning until night without them dying.
According to Fauna, the glasses provide up to four hours of continuous music and thus far I cannot argue against that. I find that the case will recharge the glasses once a day for up to a week. To recharge the case completely only takes a couple hours.
Final thoughts
If you’re trying to listen to audio in public, whether a phone call or music, the Fauna Smart Glasses are the best way to do it in style. The glasses had many unforeseen features that surprised me. In particular I was impressed with the vast number of controls right on the glasses and the tie-in to my phone’s voice assistant.
I’ve never liked the feel of ear buds and glasses. If you’ve ever had to do this for an extended period, you’ll know that the combination can be very hard on the ears, especially after long periods. I think the Faun Smart Glasses are a much better alternative should one find themselves wearing sunglasses for extended periods of time and needing to stay connected to audio or phone calls.
These are smart glasses which means they are glasses first with other benefits thrown in. As to what extent that really is, I was pleased with the overall package, and I think readers might be, too.
Where to Buy
Learn more about the Fauna Smart Glasses at the manufacturer’s website where you can also purchase them in a variety of designs. As a reminder, you can also take these to any optician to change the lenses to your prescription.
