Brilliant Labs Halo Arrives with Micro-OLED Display at $399

The Brilliant Labs Halo smart glasses have officially launched on October 27 for $399, bringing a full-color Micro-OLED display alongside on-device AI processing and persistent memory. Built on an open-source architecture, the wearable targets developers, tech enthusiasts, and privacy-conscious users who want an extensible platform for daily tasks and interactive experiences. However, its low-resolution image sensor serves solely to provide AI context and cannot capture conventional photos or record videos.

Persistent Contextual Interaction with Noa

At the center of Halo is Noa, an in-house artificial intelligence assistant developed by Brilliant Labs. Unlike standard AI voice assistants that reset session state after every single prompt, Noa is engineered with long-term memory. It continuously preserves conversational context, personal user preferences, and historical interaction data to deliver increasingly personalized responses as daily usage accumulates over time.

Three Core Modes: Ask, Make, and Play

Daily interaction with the glasses is organized across three primary operational pillars: Ask, Make, and Play. The Ask function handles continuous natural language queries and contextual back-and-forth dialogue. Make lets users describe ideas verbally to build lightweight applications and custom workflows, which can subsequently be published to the Halo app marketplace.

Play introduces Narrative, a dynamic gaming system that converts real-world surroundings into an open-ended interactive environment. Rather than following static story scripts, Narrative dynamically adjusts gameplay elements in real time based on user movements, decisions, and physical explorations throughout the day.

Hardware Balance and On-Device Privacy

Hardware specifications include a full-color Micro-OLED optical module, integrated microphones, bone-conduction audio transducers, and optical-grade lenses. Powered by Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, the glasses weigh slightly over 40 grams and are weighted for all-day ergonomic balance, delivering an estimated battery runtime of up to 14 hours on a single charge.

To protect personal privacy, Brilliant Labs prioritizes local processing over persistent cloud routing. The front-facing low-resolution sensor supplies real-time visual grounding strictly to the local AI engine. Incoming visual frames are processed directly on the device and discarded immediately, preventing image caching or remote storage. With both software and hardware open-sourced, developers can freely customize applications and inspect device operations.

"The future of wearable computing starts with trust," stated Bobak Tavangar, Chief Executive Officer of Brilliant Labs, emphasizing that artificial intelligence should encourage deeper real-world engagement without sacrificing personal privacy.

Does the trade-off of giving up traditional camera recording in exchange for strict on-device privacy make smart glasses more appealing for your daily routine, or is media capture still an essential feature for wearable tech?