Smart glasses have reached the awkward stage of becoming recognisable. More people now understand that an ordinary-looking frame may contain a camera, and they do not always feel relaxed about it.

Some of the concern is entirely reasonable. A camera worn at eye level is less obvious than a raised phone, particularly when the frame has been designed to look familiar. Recording lights help, but they do not settle every question about consent, social comfort or what should happen in places where filming is restricted.

The debate can become too blunt, however. Camera glasses have useful roles in accessibility, hands-free photography and visual AI, and wearing them does not mean somebody is secretly recording everyone nearby. We have explored that wider case in our feature on Meta glasses and accessibility, where the camera is often the part that makes the product useful.

Even Realities has taken a different route. Its G2 glasses have no camera at all, and the decision now feels less like an omission than a carefully chosen boundary.

The camera has become the argument

The concern extends beyond online argument. Photography and recording are already prohibited in court buildings, and the Lady Chief Justice was asked about smart glasses in March after a case in which a witness was reported to have received coaching while wearing them. The circumstances were unusual, but they showed how quickly a discreet wearable can complicate rules written for phones and conventional cameras.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service guidance already makes clear that observers cannot photograph, film or make sound recordings in a court building. The technology may be new, but many of the restrictions are not.

Meta says the capture LED on its glasses tells people when the camera is in use, and newer protections are designed to stop recording if that indicator is obstructed. Those are worthwhile safeguards. They still rely on the person nearby noticing the light, recognising what it means and trusting the system behind it.

This is the opening for a product such as G2. It does not need to persuade anyone that its recording light is working, because there is nothing in the frame that can take a photograph or video.

G2 avoids the most awkward question

Even Realities’ developer documentation is unusually direct: there is no camera and no speaker on the glasses, and the omission is intentional. What remains is a binocular green display, four microphones, touch controls and a Bluetooth connection to a phone.

Someone nearby may still be curious about the thickened temples, but there is no lens pointing towards them and no possibility that the wearer is filming. That removes the source of most current suspicion before a conversation has to begin.

The microphones deserve a qualification. G2 can transcribe and translate speech, so the glasses are not free of privacy considerations. A meeting participant should know when Conversate is producing a transcript, just as they should know when a phone or laptop is doing the same. Camera-free is not the same as data-free; it is simply a much narrower and easier boundary to explain.

Leaving the camera out has not left G2 empty

The private display is the point of the product. It can show directions, notifications, calendar information, reminders and teleprompt notes without putting another screen on the table. Translate places live text in front of the wearer, while Conversate can provide a transcript and short AI prompts during a discussion.

These uses are quieter than taking photographs, but they are also easier to fit into an ordinary day. Walking directions can stay at eye level. A presenter can follow notes without repeatedly looking down. Someone speaking across languages can read a translation while keeping their attention on the person in front of them.

The full AIWearHQ Even Realities G2 review examines the compromises in detail. The display is monochrome, the phone does much of the work and the glasses make no attempt to replace headphones or a camera. That focus will feel limiting to some buyers. To others, it is a better definition of what smart glasses should be.

Even Hub gives the idea somewhere to grow

G2 is no longer limited to the tools supplied by Even Realities. Even Hub is built into the companion app and allows third-party plugins to be installed, then added to the glasses’ menu. The plugins run on the phone and use G2 as their display and controller, which is a sensible way to extend the product without pretending the frame is a tiny standalone computer.

The ecosystem is young. Plugins are the only developer surface available today, while dashboard widgets, layouts and AI skills are still listed as future options. Third-party tools also bring their own privacy policies and support arrangements. Even Realities reviews public submissions, but its terms make clear that it does not control every developer or guarantee that a plugin will remain available.

Even so, the direction suits this kind of hardware. A camera platform tends to grow through new ways of capturing and understanding the world. G2 can grow through small, glanceable tools that leave the people around the wearer out of the interaction altogether.

The R1 ring makes control subtler, at a price

The optional R1 ring lets the wearer open the menu, scroll and select without repeatedly touching the side of the frame. It is particularly well suited to Teleprompt and longer menus, where a thumb movement is less distracting than reaching towards the glasses.

R1 also tracks steps, calories, sleep, heart rate, heart-rate variability, blood oxygen and temperature, with a health widget available on the G2 dashboard. That makes it more than a remote, although it remains an expensive accessory at £239. G2 already has touchpads on both temples, so most buyers should make sure they genuinely want the ring’s control or health features before taking the total beyond £800.

Discretion has two different meanings

Ray-Ban Meta succeeds partly because it looks like familiar eyewear. That discretion helps the product feel wearable, but it also feeds the privacy argument when someone does not immediately recognise that a camera is present.

G2 uses ordinary-looking frames in a different way. The electronics are there to give the wearer information, not to capture the view in front of them. A person may be reading a message, following a route or checking a line of notes, while everybody else sees little more than a pair of glasses.

There is a social advantage in not having to explain yourself. Even responsible owners of camera glasses can find the same question following them into venues, conversations and public spaces: are those recording? G2 has a short and reassuring answer.

The phone still carries much of the burden

None of this makes G2 an uncomplicated purchase. Even Realities says the glasses require a Bluetooth connection and internet access for their functions, and features such as full navigation depend on the app remaining active on the phone. A broken connection removes much of the value very quickly.

The display is designed for text and simple graphics rather than colour, photographs or video. There are no speakers for calls or music, and the £599 starting price rises to £748 with entry-level single-vision prescription lenses. Add R1 and that figure reaches £987.

Those are substantial trade-offs. G2 makes sense when directions, translation, notes or short updates have a regular place in the buyer’s day. It is hard to justify as an expensive way to avoid checking a handful of notifications.

A useful alternative, not a verdict on cameras

Camera glasses are not going away, nor should every model remove the very hardware that enables visual AI and hands-free accessibility. The current backlash does show that one design cannot suit every person or every setting.

Even G2 offers a credible second path. It keeps the information in front of the wearer, avoids recording the world around them and still leaves room for the software to become more capable. At a moment when the camera has become the most difficult part of the smart-glasses conversation, that is a strong position to occupy.

People may become more comfortable with camera glasses as the technology and its etiquette mature. Until then, G2 has the advantage of being useful without asking for that trust in the first place.