These New Smart Glasses From Ex-OnePlus Engineers Have a Hidden Cost

Boone AshworthGearApr 23, 2026 8:00 AMThese New Smart Glasses From Ex-OnePlus Engineers Have a Hidden CostThe Kickstarter-funded glasses from L'Atitude 52°N have AI features bundled for one year, but the company doesn't know yet how much it will charge for access after that.Photo-Illustration; WIRED STAFF: Courtesy of L'AttitudeCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyLots of smart glasses have AI bots inside them now. The one in L'Atitude 52°N’s glasses is called Goya, named after Francisco Goya, the famous Spanish artist who painted renowned masterpieces of romanticism.CEO and founder Gary Chen, who has worked on wearable devices for companies like Oppo, OnePlus, and HTC, says his company’s glasses are focused on travelers, with AI features that act like a tour guide and talk about all the paintings in famous museums.“Basically, you can say, ‘Hey, Goya, what is the story about Mona Lisa?’” Chen says. “You can ask anything and, with your permission, they will take a photo to analyze what’s in front of you.”I ask if you could quiz it about perhaps the most famous Goya painting, the terrifying, Gothic horror-esque image of Saturn devouring his own son.“Yes, yes,” Chen says, “It can also give you some recommendations about restaurants.”Courtesy of L'Attitude Berlin-based L'Atitude 52°N is a new player in the smart glasses space, selling its first pairs on Kickstarter in September 2025, where the campaign surpassed its funding goal and raised more than $400,000. There have been some bumps since then, as shipments were delayed from an originally announced release date in February 2026, and one model in development was scrapped outright. Now, L'Atitude 52°N has announced an official release date for its smart glasses.Preorders for one model, called Berlin, start on May 19. The glasses actually go on sale on May 26. This might be a disappointment for Kickstarter backers, as the most recent official update from the campaign came in March and said shipping would begin on April 15 for Berlin units and June 7 for the second model, called Milan. L'Atitude 52°N still hasn’t set an official launch date for the Milan, except to say that it will be “arriving in the second quarter of 2026.”The Berlin glasses cost $399. Add another $50 for the photochromatic lenses. There is one very big catch: The AI features enabled on the device will only work for 12 months, which L'Atitude 52°N calls an “AI feature trial.” After that, customers have to pay for a subscription service, or will be limited to the base features, like playing music and capturing media.How much will that subscription service cost? Chen says he doesn’t know.“Right now, we don't have a final plan for the subscription,” Chen says, adding that it will take maybe six months after people buy and use the device before they make that call.He is not yet sure about how exactly the company will calculate the costs, but is relying on people to buy the glasses so the company can figure out how to charge them based on user behavior.“If you go to the British Museum, you can buy a tour guide, maybe $3,” Chen says. “Most of the features will still be free. That is our principle. And some more advanced features, we will plan to charge.”Courtesy of L'Attitude The L'Atitude 52°N glasses are aimed squarely at competing with Meta, which has all but dominated the nascent smart glasses market. L'Atitude 52°N’s Berlin glasses offer many very similar features. There is a…

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