Focals by North
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| Focals by North | |
|---|---|
| |
| Basic Info | |
| VR/AR | Augmented Reality |
| Type | Smart glasses |
| Subtype | AR Glasses |
| Platform | Companion app for Android 5.0 or later and iPhone 5S or later with iOS 11 or later[1] |
| Creator | North (formerly Thalmic Labs) |
| Developer | North (formerly Thalmic Labs) |
| Manufacturer | North, at its facility in Waterloo, Ontario[2] |
| Announcement Date | 23 October 2018[3] |
| Release Date | 24 January 2019 (first customer shipments, Brooklyn and Toronto)[2] |
| Price | US$999 (CA$1,299) at launch; from US$599 (CA$799) from 14 February 2019, prescription lenses US$200 extra[3][4] |
| Website | https://www.bynorth.com/ (defunct) |
| Versions | Classic and Round frames; Black, Tortoise and Grey Fade colors[3] |
| Requires | Android or iOS smartphone with the Focals companion app |
| Successor | Focals 2.0 (announced December 2019, cancelled June 2020) |
| System | |
| Chipset | Qualcomm APQ8009w[1] |
| CPU | Four Arm Cortex-A7 cores at up to 1.09 GHz[5] |
| GPU | Qualcomm Adreno 304[5] |
| Display | |
| Display | Full color, holographic, retinal projection display[1] |
| Resolution | Not listed by North; press figures range from 110 x 110 to about 300 x 300[6][5][7] |
| Optics | |
| Optics | Holographic film embedded in the right lens[8] |
| Ocularity | Monocular (right eye)[5] |
| Adjustable Diopter | Prescription lenses from -4.00 to +2.00 SPH and 0 to -2.00 CYL[4] |
| Audio | |
| Audio | Directional speaker[1] |
| Microphone | Microphone (speech-to-text capable)[1] |
| Camera | None[6] |
| Connectivity | |
| Connectivity | Dual-mode Bluetooth 4.2 (glasses); Bluetooth LE (Loop)[1] |
| Ports | Magnetic charging contacts[1] |
| Bluetooth | 4.2[1] |
| Power | Rechargeable battery; charged in a battery case[1][6] |
| Battery Capacity | 700 mAh (glasses); 0.8 mAh (Loop)[1] |
| Battery Life | Up to 18 hours based on average use (North figure)[1] |
| Device | |
| Dimensions | Frame width 132-160 mm, bridge width 16-22 mm, temple length 164 mm[1] |
| Weight | 65-80 g depending on size, style and lenses[1] |
| Material | Die-cast aluminum and Grilamid frame, copper accents, stainless steel spring-loaded hinges[5][1] |
| Color | Black, Tortoise, Grey Fade[3] |
| Sensors | 9-axis IMU, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor[1] |
| Input | Loop ring (4-way joystick with press to click), voice[1] |
Focals by North (often called North Focals) were consumer smart glasses made by North, the Waterloo, Ontario company formerly called Thalmic Labs. They looked like ordinary prescription glasses but carried a small full-color display in the right lens that only the wearer could see, used to show messages, turn-by-turn directions, weather, calendar entries and Amazon Alexa responses from a paired smartphone.[3][1] The wearer controlled them with Loop, a ring worn on the finger with a small joystick.[3]
North announced Focals and opened pre-orders on 23 October 2018 at US$999, with custom fitting at showrooms in Brooklyn and Toronto, and celebrated the first customer shipments on 24 January 2019.[3][2] In February 2019 it cut the starting price to US$599.[4] North stopped producing the first-generation glasses in December 2019 to concentrate on Focals 2.0.[9] Google announced on 30 June 2020 that it had acquired North; the company wound down Focals 1.0, cancelled Focals 2.0 and refunded paid Focals orders.[10][11][12]
Tom's Hardware wrote that earlier smart glasses such as Google Glass had failed to reach the mainstream partly because of their looks, and that Focals addressed this by looking, fitting and working like traditional prescription glasses.[5] Their display used a laser scanning projector in the right temple and a holographic film in the lens, a form of retinal projection.[7][8]
History
Thalmic Labs and North
Thalmic Labs was founded in 2012 by Stephen Lake, Matthew Bailey and Aaron Grant, graduates of the University of Waterloo's mechatronics engineering program.[3] Its first product was the Myo armband, a gesture input device that read electrical signals from the forearm muscles.[12][11] The company stopped selling Myo in October 2018 and announced Focals the same month under its new name, North.[13][14] In its October 2018 release North said it had raised more than US$140 million from investors including the Amazon Alexa Fund and Intel Capital; by September 2019 the figure in its releases was more than US$170 million.[3][15]
Patents filed by Thalmic Labs describe the general display architecture used in this kind of product: a scanning laser projector, a holographic combiner in the lens, and optics intended to enlarge the small eye box that such a system produces. One example is US patent 9,989,764, "Systems, devices, and methods for eyebox expansion in wearable heads-up displays", with a priority date of 17 February 2015, granted on 5 June 2018 and now assigned to Google.[16]
Announcement and launch
North announced Focals on 23 October 2018 and opened pre-orders at US$999 (CA$1,299). The introductory price included the glasses, the Loop ring, Focals services, a charging case and clip-on sun lenses. Buyers had to book an appointment at one of two showrooms, at 178 Court Street in Brooklyn and 113 Ossington Avenue in Toronto, which North said would open in November 2018. North said Classic frames would ship before the end of 2018, Round frames in 2019, and that prescription lenses could be ordered from 2019.[3] CEO Stephen Lake said the company had "designed Focals to be glasses first and invented new technology that we could conceal inside."[3]
On 17 December 2018 North announced that it had acquired Intel's smart glasses technology portfolio, including intellectual property and assets from Intel's "Superlight" consumer AR glasses project. North said the deal would give it nearly 650 patents and patent applications by the end of 2018; terms were not disclosed.[17] Press coverage described the purchase as covering the patents and technology of Intel's Vaunt AR glasses.[18]
On 24 January 2019 North announced the first shipment of customer glasses to its Brooklyn and Toronto showrooms. Each pair had been custom-made at North's manufacturing facility in Waterloo, Ontario, and customers returned to a showroom to collect it and have final adjustments made.[2]
Price cut, pop-ups and online sales
On 14 February 2019 North made prescription lenses available and introduced a new price structure: Focals started at US$599 (CA$799), prescription lenses cost US$200 (CA$200) more, and premium lenses, the Tortoise and Grey Fade colors and limited edition shapes cost US$100 (CA$139) each. Customers who had paid the original price received a refund of the difference.[4] A mobile Pop-Up Showroom began touring on 19 February 2019 in Seattle before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area.[19]
On 18 September 2019 North released the Focals Showroom app, which let customers in the United States and Canada measure their own faces with an iPhone X or later and order Focals online, with glasses shipped several weeks later. North developed the depth scanning and virtual try-on features with the San Francisco startup Standard Cyborg, and said facial data from sizing would be deleted within 30 days if no purchase was made.[15]
End of production and Focals 2.0
On 10 December 2019 North announced Focals 2.0 for release in 2020 and said the first-generation glasses would no longer be sold. North said the new model was lighter and sleeker, with its technology miniaturized by 40% and a display ten times sharper; Lake called it "the most advanced smart glasses ever made."[9][20] North never disclosed sales figures.[9] In June 2020 The Globe and Mail reported that first-generation sales had been "minuscule", with a person close to sales operations saying it was unlikely that North had sold many more than 1,000 pairs, and that North had cut its spending while looking for a buyer.[21]
Google acquisition
On 30 June 2020 Google's senior vice president of devices and services, Rick Osterloh, announced that Google had acquired North, linking the purchase to Google's hardware work and its idea of "ambient computing". North's team stayed in Kitchener-Waterloo and joined Google's existing team there.[10][22] Google did not disclose the price; The Globe and Mail had reported a price of US$180 million.[12][21]
North's founders wrote that the company was "winding down Focals 1.0" and would "not be shipping Focals 2.0".[11] The Focals app and North account backend stopped working on 31 July 2020, North refunded paid Focals orders, and customer support continued until the end of 2020.[23][11][12]
Design and hardware
Frames and fit
Focals came in two frame shapes, Classic and Round, and three colors, Black, Tortoise and Grey Fade.[3] North listed frame widths of 132-160 mm, bridge widths of 16-22 mm, a temple length of 164 mm, copper accents on the nose pads and hinges, and stainless steel spring-loaded hinges. It gave the weight as 65-80 g depending on size, style and lenses.[1] Tom's Hardware described the frames as mainly die-cast aluminum and Grilamid polymer, weighed its review pair at 72.57 g, and noted that the temple arms were at their thickest point about twice the width of the reviewer's regular glasses.[5]
Each pair was built to the buyer's measurements, because the image is only visible when the display lines up with the eye. Fitting began with a 3D face scan at a showroom (later also in the Showroom app) and ended with physical adjustment of the nose pads and arms after delivery.[5][15][6] Trusted Reviews reported a delivery time of six to eight weeks for an app-fitted order.[6]
Prescription lenses covered -4.00 to +2.00 SPH and 0 to -2.00 CYL and were made in-house at North's Waterloo facility with anti-reflective and UV coatings.[4] Every pair came with clip-on sun lenses that North said block 100% of UVA and UVB rays.[8][4] North designed the glasses for IP55 and warned that they were not suitable for showers or swimming.[1]
Display
The projector sits on the inside of the right temple and sends red, green and blue light toward a transparent holographic film in the right lens. North said the holograms "are tuned to only reflect extremely precise wavelengths of red, green, and blue light", so the rest of the light passes through and the film reflects the image into the wearer's eye.[8][5] North described the result as a full color, holographic, retinal projection display that appears to float about an arm's length away.[1][3] The left arm of Tom's Hardware's review pair was marked "CLASS 1 LASER PRODUCT".[5]
North did not list a resolution or field of view. Display analyst Karl Guttag identified the system as laser beam scanning with a holographic film, the same basic approach as Intel's single-color Vaunt prototype, and estimated a field of view of about 15 degrees; he cited The Verge's description of roughly 300 x 300 pixels.[7] Tom's Hardware listed "roughly 200x200 (varies by frame)", and Trusted Reviews listed a 110 x 110 display.[5][6] Guttag also pointed to the very small eye box of laser scanning displays: if the beam does not enter the pupil, the image disappears, which is why each pair needed custom fitting.[7]
Electronics and battery
The glasses used a Qualcomm APQ8009w system-on-chip, which Tom's Hardware described as four Arm Cortex-A7 cores at up to 1.09 GHz with an Adreno 304 GPU.[1][5] North's specification sheet listed a 9-axis IMU, an ambient light sensor, a proximity sensor, a microphone capable of speech-to-text, a directional speaker, a white and red LED, and dual-mode Bluetooth 4.2.[1] The glasses had no camera.[6]
The 700 mAh battery was rated for up to 18 hours of average use. The glasses charged through magnetic contacts inside the supplied case, which has its own battery.[1][6] Trusted Reviews reported that the case could fully recharge the glasses and Loop three times and found battery life in line with North's claim.[6] In Tom's Hardware's heavier testing at maximum brightness and volume, the glasses lasted 7-10 hours a day, and the case delivered fewer than two full charges.[5]
Loop ring
Loop is a ring controller with a 4-way joystick that can be pressed to click. North offered it in ten ring sizes (6 to 15) and in Black and Copper. It connected over Bluetooth LE, had a 0.8 mAh battery rated for up to three days, and was designed for IP66.[1][3]
Hardware specifications
| Component | Specification |
|---|---|
| Display | Full color, holographic, retinal projection display, right eye[1] |
| Processor | Qualcomm APQ8009w[1] |
| Sensors | 9-axis IMU, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor[1] |
| Audio | Microphone (speech-to-text capable), directional speaker[1] |
| Connectivity | Dual-mode Bluetooth 4.2[1] |
| Battery | 700 mAh, up to 18 hours based on average use[1] |
| Water resistance | Designed for IP55[1] |
| Weight | 65-80 g[1] |
| Prescription range | -4.00 to +2.00 SPH, 0 to -2.00 CYL[4] |
| Loop input | 4-way joystick with press to click[1] |
| Loop battery | 0.8 mAh, up to 3 days[1] |
| Loop water resistance | Designed for IP66[1] |
Software and features
Focals paired with a companion app on Android 5.0 or later, or on an iPhone 5S or later running iOS 11 or later.[1] At launch North listed messages with smart replies, emojis and voice-to-text; search and turn-by-turn directions; Uber requests; time, calendar, weather and reminders; Amazon Alexa, answering on the display or through the speaker; and proactive updates such as an approaching Uber.[3] The companion app also ran display calibration and stored favorite contacts and places.[5]
North added features after launch. By late 2019 reviewers described Spotify playback controls, Google Fit statistics, Slack and other messaging notifications, Evernote, OneNote, Todoist and Google Tasks integration, sports scores, simple games and an "Experimental" section in the app.[5][6] Directions used Mapbox maps according to Tom's Hardware, and Trusted Reviews reported that notifications were automatically muted when the glasses detected driving.[5][6] On iPhones, Apple's restrictions meant texts were sent from a separate number rather than through the phone's own messaging app, a problem Android users did not have.[5] In 2019 North's FAQ stated that the company did not have a developer program.[13]
Reception
Reviewers praised the design. Tom's Hardware called Focals "by far the most fashionable smart glasses I've seen" and said the custom fit made them possibly the most comfortable glasses its reviewer had worn, but criticized image quality: the display showed ghost images near bright windows and a flicker that North attributed to a low refresh rate, and the right arm reached 44 degrees C after five minutes at full brightness and volume.[5] Trusted Reviews gave Focals 3.5 out of 5, liking the interface, construction, Loop ring and Alexa, Uber and Spotify integration and the absence of a camera, but calling the price high and the display "far from perfectly clear".[6]
Karl Guttag was skeptical before launch, arguing that low resolution, a small field of view, the tiny eye box of laser scanning and the custom-fit requirement would limit the product.[7] When the first generation ended, TechCrunch pointed to the price, the in-person fitting, the limited prescription range and weak iMessage support as likely reasons for low sales, while calling Focals the most consumer-friendly wearable glasses interface launched up to that point.[9][12]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 "Focals Technology". North. North Inc.. https://web.archive.org/web/20190419165207/https://www.bynorth.com/tech. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "North Celebrates First Official Customer Shipment of Focals, Planned Expansion to New Markets Through Mobile Pop-Ups". North. North Inc.. 2019-01-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20190419165830/https://www.bynorth.com/press-room/focals-now-shipping. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 "Introducing Focals: Stylish Smart Glasses for Everyday Wear". North. North Inc.. 2018-10-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20190202101957/https://www.bynorth.com/press-room/introducing-focals. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 "North Announces Availability of Prescription Focals, New Pricing Structure Starting at $599". North. North Inc.. 2019-02-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20190419165825/https://www.bynorth.com/press-room/prescription-focals-available-now. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 Scharon Harding (2019-09-19). "North Focals Review: Stealthy, Stylish Smart Glasses". Tom's Hardware. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/north-focals-smart-glasses-ar,5968.html. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 Chris Smith (2019-10-31). "Focals by North Smart Glasses Review". Trusted Reviews. https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/focals-by-north-smart-glasses. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Karl Guttag (2018-10-25). "North's Focals Laser Beam Scanning AR Glasses - "Color Intel Vaunt"". KGOnTech. https://kguttag.com/2018/10/25/norths-focals-laser-beam-scanning-ar-glasses-color-intel-vaunt/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Focals Lenses". North. North Inc.. https://web.archive.org/web/20190202101716/https://www.bynorth.com/lenses. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Darrell Etherington (2019-12-10). "North ending production of current Focals smart glasses to focus on Focals 2.0". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/10/north-ending-production-of-current-focals-smart-glasses-to-focus-on-focals-2-0/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Rick Osterloh (2020-06-30). "Our focus on helpful devices: Google acquires North". The Keyword. Google. https://blog.google/products/hardware/focus-helpful-devices-google-acquires-north/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 "North + Google". North. North Inc.. https://web.archive.org/web/20200805003706/https://www.bynorth.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Darrell Etherington (2020-06-30). "Google acquires smart glasses company North, whose Focals 2.0 won't ship". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/30/google-acquires-smart-glasses-company-north-whose-focals-2-0-wont-ship/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "FAQ & Contact Us". North. North Inc.. https://web.archive.org/web/20190419165152/https://www.bynorth.com/faq-contact. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ Jessica Galang (2018-10-23). "North (Thalmic) confirms pricing and availability for its smart glasses". BetaKit. https://betakit.com/north-thalmic-confirms-pricing-and-availability-for-its-smart-glasses/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 "North Makes Focals Smart Glasses Available to Purchase Online". North. North Inc.. 2019-09-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20190921172401/https://www.bynorth.com/press-room/focals-smart-glasses-available-online. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ Stefan Alexander, Matthew Bailey, Vance R. Morrison, Lloyd Frederick Holland, Joshua Moore (2018-06-05). "US9989764B2 - Systems, devices, and methods for eyebox expansion in wearable heads-up displays". Google Patents. https://patents.google.com/patent/US9989764B2/en. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ "North Expands Smart Glasses Expertise with Acquisition of Intel's Smart Glasses Technology Portfolio". North. North Inc.. 2018-12-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20190419165834/https://www.bynorth.com/press-room/north-acquires-intel-vaunt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ Shruti Shekar (2018-12-17). "North acquires Intel Vaunt AR glasses' patents and technology". MobileSyrup. https://mobilesyrup.com/2018/12/17/north-acquires-intel-vaunt-ar-glasses-patents-and-technology/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ "North Brings Focals Smart Glasses to the West Coast via New Pop-Up Showroom". North. North Inc.. 2019-02-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20190419165820/https://www.bynorth.com/press-room/focals-are-coming-to-you. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ "North announces Focals 2.0 Augmented Reality smart glasses, with shipping to begin in 2020". Auganix. 2019-12-10. https://www.auganix.org/north-announces-focals-2-0-augmented-reality-smart-glasses-with-shipping-to-begin-in-2020/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Abner Li (2020-06-25). "Alphabet reportedly buying North after 'minuscule' Focals smart glasses sales". 9to5Google. https://9to5google.com/2020/06/25/alphabet-north-focals/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ Ian Hamilton (2020-06-30). "Google Acquires North's Focals Smartglasses Business". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/google-acquires-north/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
- ↑ Abner Li (2020-06-30). "Google acquires North as Focals 2.0 smart glasses canceled". 9to5Google. https://9to5google.com/2020/06/30/google-acquires-north-focals/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.