Brilliant Labs Halo — specification and verdict
Halo replaces the Frame, which Brilliant Labs no longer sells, and it is the most documented device in this catalogue: the hardware manual names every component down to the part number, which is why so many rows here are filled where comparable AI glasses are blank. A colour micro-OLED sits above one eye, a VGA global-shutter camera faces forward, and two bone-conduction speakers and two microphones feed a conversational agent on the phone. The silicon is a microcontroller, not a phone SoC — an Arm Cortex-M55 with a small NPU, 2 MB of RAM and 1.8 MB of flash — because the glasses are a Bluetooth peripheral rather than a computer. There is no Wi-Fi, and Brilliant says that is deliberate.
Halo is an open platform, which is unusual here, but the platform is a Bluetooth peripheral rather than a computer: applications live on a phone or a PC and drive the glasses through Brilliant’s SDK, with Python, Flutter and Web Bluetooth targets. That is a real route for a bespoke tool — a checklist, a prompt, a capture trigger — and it is more open than anything else in this class. What does not exist is the rest of a deployment: no fleet management, no provisioning, no enterprise licensing, and support is a community channel plus an email address. The daily AI usage caps are also unquantified, which matters if a device is meant to run all shift.
The most transparent device in this catalogue, and the one whose specification you can actually check: the hardware manual names every component with its part number. That transparency cuts both ways — it is also how you learn that the compute is a microcontroller with 2 MB of RAM, that the display FOV is simply not published, and that the only certification is FCC Part 15, with no CE or UKCA mark for a European buyer. Frame, its predecessor, is gone from the store entirely. Buy it to build something small and specific, not to deploy a fleet.
How it compares within its class
The axis runs from the lowest to the highest published figure among the AI glasses devices in this catalogue. The grey tick is the median of that class.
Median for this class: 540 min, from 10 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: 1500 nits, from 7 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: $499, from 14 models that publish the figure.
Full specification
An em dash means the manufacturer does not publish that figure.
- ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from.
- Brilliant Labs
- CategoryWhich kind of product this is. It decides which rows below make sense at all.
- AI glasses
- Device typeWhere the computing happens, and therefore what you need to run it.
- Phone-powered AR
- AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped.
- 2025-07-31
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2025
- AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today.
- On sale
- Support endsThe date the manufacturer stops supporting it. Decisive for a fleet you are about to buy.
- Support ends: not published by the manufacturer
- DisplayHow the image is produced. "No display" is a real answer in this category, not a gap.
- Micro-OLED, one eye
- Eyes coveredOne eye or both. Over a full shift this is a real difference in fatigue.
- One eye
- Resolution per eyePixels delivered to each eye. Higher means small text and labels stay readable.
- 640x480
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- Refresh rate: not published by the manufacturer
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- Field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Pixel densityPixels per degree of view — the honest way to compare sharpness between a headset and a pair of glasses. Higher is sharper. Only shown where somebody published it; we never compute it ourselves.
- Pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- BrightnessIn a plant or outdoors, brightness decides legibility more than resolution does.
- 5000 nits
- WeightThe device alone. Anything above roughly 150 g is felt within an hour.
- Weight: not published by the manufacturer
- Visible field of viewWhat the eye actually sees through the optics, by axis.
- Visible field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Rendered field of viewWhat the device draws. Never smaller than what you see.
- Rendered field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Binocular overlapWhere both eyes see the same thing — this is where depth happens.
- Binocular overlap: not published by the manufacturer
- Average pixel densityPixels per degree across the image. More is sharper.
- Average pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- Peak pixel densityThe sharpest point, usually the centre of the lens.
- Peak pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- Subpixel layoutHow the coloured dots sit in a pixel. A stripe looks cleaner on text than PenTile.
- Subpixel layout: not published by the manufacturer
- Foveated renderingWhether detail is dropped outside where you look, to save performance.
- Foveated rendering: not published by the manufacturer
- Vision correctionHow somebody who wears glasses uses it, and in what dioptre range.
- Built-in dioptre dial · -6 to 2 D
- DimensionsWidth, height and depth of the device itself.
- Dimensions: not published by the manufacturer
- Weight with strapWith the strap it ships with — the weight you actually wear.
- Weight with strap: not published by the manufacturer
- Head strapSoft band or a rigid one. Decides how the weight sits over an hour.
- Glasses frame
- MaterialsShell and facial interface, in the vendor’s words.
- Materials: not published by the manufacturer
- ColoursColours the manufacturer sells it in.
- Black
- Haptics in the headsetVibration in the headset itself, not in the controllers.
- Haptics in the headset: not published by the manufacturer
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- None
- Tracking camerasHow many cameras it uses to know where it is.
- Tracking cameras: not published by the manufacturer
- Tracking rateHow often position is recalculated. Higher is steadier.
- Tracking rate: not published by the manufacturer
- Depth sensorA dedicated sensor for distance, on top of the cameras.
- No
- Hand trackingWhether bare hands can operate the interface, without a controller or the phone.
- No
- Face trackingTracks facial expression — for avatars, not for training scenarios.
- Face tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Body trackingHow much of the body the device knows about. Estimated legs are not tracked legs.
- Body tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only.
- No
- Controller tracking6DoF controllers track position and rotation, so a hand reaches in space; 3DoF only point. “None” means hands only.
- None (hands only)
- Other input methodsWays in beyond controllers and bare hands.
- Voice
- Where it computesWhether the device computes on its own or depends on a phone, PC or belt-worn puck.
- Driven by a phone
- ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from.
- Alif Semiconductor Balletto B1
- CPUCores and clocks, where the manufacturer publishes them.
- Arm Cortex-M55
- GPUThe graphics part of the chip.
- GPU: not published by the manufacturer
- MemoryRAM on the device. Together with the chipset it sets how complex a scene can be.
- Memory: not published by the manufacturer
- PlatformThe platform an application is built against — and what an MDM has to speak.
- Zephyr OS
- StorageOn-board space for downloaded courses. More matters for an offline library in several languages.
- Storage: not published by the manufacturer
- SD card slotWhether storage can be added with a card.
- SD card slot: not published by the manufacturer
- BatteryRuntime as the manufacturer states it. A hot-swappable pack matters more than the figure.
- 840 min
- Battery capacity (Wh)Energy in the cell. Bigger is longer, given the same power draw.
- Battery capacity (Wh): not published by the manufacturer
- Battery capacity (mAh)The same fact in the other unit vendors use. We never convert between the two.
- 300 mAh
- Charge timeFrom empty to full. Rarely stated by the manufacturer, so it usually comes from whoever timed it.
- Charge time: not published by the manufacturer
- ChargerPower of the supplied charger — it decides the charge time above.
- Charger: not published by the manufacturer
- External batteryBattery on a cable or a puck instead of on the head.
- No
- Charging caseExtra runtime carried in the case the glasses ship with.
- Charging case: not published by the manufacturer
- Hot-swap batteryWhether a charged battery can replace the empty one without ending the session. This is what decides if a headset can hold an all-day training station.
- No
- Third-party appsHow a third party's application reaches the device: an ordinary Android package, a vendor-only SDK, or not at all.
- Vendor SDK only
- Runs Skillsive appsOur own statement about whether Skillsive training applications run on it today.
- No
- Suitable for trainingOur judgement on whether it survives real deployment: comfort, hygiene, fleet management.
- No
- Kiosk mode / MDMVendor tooling to enrol devices, push an app and lock the headset to it. Practically required above ten devices.
- No
- Business tierAn official business tier, so devices belong to the company rather than to employees’ personal accounts.
- No
- CertificationsIndustrial certifications stated on the manufacturer's own page. Empty means unconfirmed, never "probably fine".
- FCC Part 15 Class B
- PortsPhysical sockets and charging contacts.
- magnetic charging connector
- Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up.
- Wi-Fi: not published by the manufacturer
- BluetoothFor controllers, headphones and accessories.
- 5.3
- Video from a computerWhether a computer can drive it, over a cable or wirelessly.
- Video from a computer: not published by the manufacturer
- AudioBuilt-in sound. Matters most where somebody has to hear a remote expert while working.
- Bone conduction
- MicrophoneBuilt-in microphone — the other half of talking to a remote expert.
- Yes
- MicrophonesHow many. An array picks a voice out of a noisy hall; one does not.
- 2
- CameraA camera is what makes a remote expert call and photo documentation possible.
- Yes
- Price bandThe band it sits in, rather than a price that goes stale.
- Mid range
- Launch priceThe manufacturer's launch price. Fixed history, so it never goes stale.
- $399
- Price by configurationWhat each configuration cost at launch.
- Price by configuration: not published by the manufacturer
- Price todayApproximate current net price in USD — a general figure, since these barely differ between regions once tax is stripped out. A snapshot from the date shown, not an offer.
- $399
Who this device is for
For developers and for people who want an assistant that remembers what they saw, and who are willing to trade polish for openness. Brilliant Labs describes it as “open source AI glasses for the curious, creative, and forward thinking”, and splits the audience itself: ordinary wearers get memory and dialogue about what they see and hear, while developers get a hardware and software platform to build on. It is a Bluetooth peripheral to a phone rather than a standalone computer, and the specification reflects that honestly.
How it differs from its predecessor
Against its own predecessor, the Frame, it gains a second microphone, two bone-conduction speakers it never had, an NPU in place of an FPGA, and a bigger battery — while losing Frame’s powered charging dock and, deliberately, camera resolution. Brilliant says why: it rejected “hefty image sensors geared more for social media capture than focused AI inference”. Against the Meta Ray-Ban Display or Even Realities G2 it is far more open and far less finished, with no fleet story and no European conformity marking.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
No display field of view is published at all, which is conspicuous because Brilliant did publish one for the Frame. There is no IP rating, no CE and no UKCA marking — only FCC Part 15 — which is a genuine problem for a European buyer. No dimensions and no frame material are given. The company also contradicts itself on whether the firmware source is actually public: the product page says the code is on GitHub while the hardware manual’s own link says “coming soon”. Free AI usage is described as having daily caps that are never quantified, and there is no fleet management or enterprise licensing of any kind.
Brilliant Labs Halo — frequently asked questions
- Why does the memory figure look so small next to other AI glasses?
- Because it is a microcontroller, not a phone chip. Brilliant publishes 2 megabytes of RAM and 1.8 megabytes of flash — megabytes, not gigabytes — around an Arm Cortex-M55 with a small neural unit. The heavy work happens on the phone the glasses pair with. Our table leaves those fields empty rather than printing a figure that would read a thousand times too high in gigabytes.
- Can a company build its own application for Halo?
- Yes, and that is the point of it. There is a published SDK with Python, Flutter and Web Bluetooth targets, and applications live on the host and drive the glasses over Bluetooth rather than being installed on them. What does not exist is anything around a deployment — no device management, no provisioning, no enterprise support tier — so this is a route to a prototype or a single-purpose tool, not to a fleet.
Compare this device
Consider these too
The nearest devices in the same class, ranked by availability and launch price — not by our opinion of them.
Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-08-16. Manufacturer's specification
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