Have you ever been hanging out on a beach, or just walking through a parking lot on a particularly sunny day and thought “man, I wish my sunglasses could play some music?” Well, apparently you’re not alone, and there are enough people like you to create a demand for Bluetooth sunglasses.
The Fauna Designer Bluetooth Audio Sunglasses promise a stylish, fashionable experience in protective eyewear that can also play some tunes and podcasts, help you work with your virtual assistant, and just be a more techie person. They’re absolutely a strange device, but are they any good? Let’s find out.
Stylish design
Ignoring any of the speakers or other tech inside of these sunglasses, Fauna has made a pretty nice set of shades. You can get them in a variety of colors and styles, or even just regular eyeglasses instead of sunglasses. Yes, your eye doctor can swap out the lenses for you, too, so you can theoretically just wear these as normal glasses.
From the front, they’re honestly pretty indiscernible from regular eyewear, too. The frames are pretty thick on all the options, but that’s fairly in fashion these days so it shouldn’t stick out. From the side things are a little different.
They’re not horribly clunky or anything, but you can tell these are something besides normal eyeglasses. The legs (and more specifically, the section around your temple) are much thicker to accommodate the touch sensitive hardware and speakers. They taper back off to normal sizes at the end, but if someone is looking at you from the side they’re very likely going to notice something.
All in all, though, it’s a clever design that combines fashion and tech without offending either category.
Private speaker
With the speakers being built into the sides of the sunglasses, I was a little skeptical about how good they could sound. There’s not much room there for anything better than what you’d get from a incredibly cheap, tiny TV or $40 smartphone after all.
Well, things are not as bad as they might seem at first. I’ll be honest with you, they don’t sound great, and certainly won’t beat even some incredibly cheap headphones. But they are tuned pretty well and sound better than you’d think.
More importantly, at least in my experience, is that the soundstage and volume is almost perfect for this kind of device. They don’t get too loud, but just loud enough that you can hear your music without bothering the people around you, unless they’re very close by. I wouldn’t take any private, sensitive phone calls, but just jamming out or listening to a podcast? Perfectly fine! Good, even! Not $200 worth, but hey, you’re paying for the fashion and novelty here.
Smart functionality
For all intents and purposes, these glasses work just like headphones. You get all kinds of controls for adjusting volume on the fly, playing and pausing songs, taking phone calls, and even conjuring up your voice assistant. There are touch sensitive parts built into the sides of the glasses that you can tap on to interact with your media, and sliding your finger around will bring the volume up or down around your ears.
The left side of the glasses controls most media playback and volume. A double tap will play and pause music or accept a phone call, and a tap & hold gesture will skip songs or decline calls.
On the right side you’re a little more limited, with just the double tap gesture bringing up your voice assistant. But if you’re using these like a smart gadget, that’s probably going to be your most frequent command. Telling Google to play specific songs or send out text messages feel decidedly futuristic on a pair of sunglasses like this, or at the very least somewhat like you’re in a slow burn spy thriller.
Additionally, you’re getting an included charging case to keep your glasses free from scratches, a microfiber cloth for cleaning them, and some water resistance. Do not take these in the pool, but a little rain won’t ruin your investment. They’re also able to be adjusted by an optician, although not as much as a regular set of glasses. It feels like a solid compromise between a gadget and your regular eyewear, though.
Worth it?
The Fauna glasses are fun, definitely. I’m just not entirely sure who these are for.
If you’re spending $200 on your sunglasses, you might be a little more picky about how they look, and Fauna only has a handful of styles to pick from. If you’re looking for something for music playback and smart controls, on the other hand, you might be more inclined to just buy a nice pair of headphones for less money that sound better.
Maybe there’s a market for these that I’m just missing, but at $199, it’s definitely not an easy sell.
Fauna Designer Sunglasses | $199 | Fauna
