I finally received my Ally Solos glasses today. I'm sorry to say that so far, I'm underwhelmed to put it mildly. I suppose that this could be considered as an enisial impressions review of sorts. When I first took the glasses out of the box, I couldn't help thinking that they feel much cheaper than the Skyler Meta glasses I ended up selling to a co-worker. The whole detachible arms thing doesn't seem like a sound design choice to me, but I'd be perfectly fine with it if I wasn't experiencing any other issues.
On a positive note, I love that the lenses are perfectly clear; that was 1 of the main features I was looking forward to. The size and weight of the glasses are both good, but they don't seem to fit as comfortably as the Metas did. There were things in the box that I couldn't figure out the purpose of; I suppose they're spare parts of some sort, but couldn't figure out how to use them; the manual doesn't seem to contain the standard "what's in the box?" section that describes everything that should be included in the package.
I am trying to use the magnetic charging cable, but have no way of knowing whether it's connecting correctly or not. I managed to pair the glasses with my phone, and even did the little tutorial in the Ally app, but the glasses seem to disconnect every few minutes or so.
My experience so far suggests that aside from the detachible arms, there are a couple of other questionable design choices. I think the power button is way too sensitive, and it shouldn't be so close to the touch bar. It also seems as though my hair is getting in the way of using the touch bar. I'm getting a haircut on Friday, but my hair really isn't all that long, so this shouldn't be as much of an issue as it seems to be. Sometimes, using the touch bar plays music on my phone. Other times, it activates siri. So far, I've only actually been able to talk with my Ally once.
I'm also having a lot of trouble with regards to figuring out where and how to hold documents or items so that the glasses can identify them accurately. I've tried to download and read the latest user manual, but in adobe acrobat, each section is run together as all 1 word. I've sent an email to support@ally.me describing all of the issues I'm having, so hopefully everything will work out eventually. Thankfully, I've kept all the packaging, just in case I end up needing to return the glasses. Bottom line: at least so far, I couldn't recommend these at their normal price, but if my impression changes, I will happily ammend this post or make a new one.
Looking forward to hearing other people's demos or impressions of the Ally Solos glasses.