Disappointed with Envision

Sadly, you are not the only one who feels that way. Seems like the folks behind the Solos have been disappointing their consumers the past couple of weeks.
At least according to this thread:
https://applevis.com/forum/smart-home-tech-gadgets/tips-beginners-setting-ally-solos-smart-glasses

Side note, I absolutely agree with your comment on the Meta glasses. For whatever that is worth. 🙂

I can perform the same tasks with Gemini. Tasks from scanning and reading documents to describing objects, scenery etc. I don't know how the compatibility with glasses works or doesn't work. I have tried Ally assistant, but am not able to justify any core differences between Ally and Gemini.

And this right here is why I will never support a blindy tech company such as this. Flimsy hardware that's not compatible and they might as well be running on unsupported hardware Lol. They do not know what they doing. Metas just, work! Are they perfect? no, but play with them long enough you'll get most of what you need. Nevermind all the money you gotta spend compared to the metas. I still love my glasses all the same. We gotta pay more than our sighted counterparts. just because it's a blindy company who wants more money. Na, I do not buy that. We're seeing this everywhere. Time to put your money where it's more useful. Mainstream all the way for me.

I've had my Ally Solos glasses for almost a month now. While I will be the first to admit that perhaps they weren't truly ready for primetime, my thinking is that things will never improve if Envision doesn't get feedback from users. Also, I didn't want to return them only to find out 6 months from now that they actually got awesome. I was only able to justify purchasing them at the ultra earlybird price of $399, so would never even think about paying more than that. With that being said, once I worked with the Ally glasses a bit, I realized that there were actually a couple of things I missed about the Meta glasses: most noteably Live AI. So now, I've got the Ally Solos glasses, which, at least for now, I intend to primarily use for reading tasks, and a new pair of Meta Ray-Ban gen2 glasses for other things like identifying colors when sorting laundry. At least for now, I feel that the Ally glasses and the Meta glasses serve 2 completely different purposes. I've thought about recording a demo comparing the 2, but am not sure if there would be any interest. Also, I know I've posted this before, but at least in my experience, the Ally glasses work a little bit better if you disable Walkee Talkee mode.

Hi Missy!
personally I would be the first interested in listening to your demonstration comparing both glasses.
I would totally appreciate, if you took the time to record the demonstration.
Thanks

Hello, so, let me share my 2 cents for the cause.

Envision and their assistance: despite being in the beta program for a while, I notice they are few folks for lots of people asking so they are very slow in response. They have organized some support calls every thursday, maybe it's the best they can afford right now, I have solved my doubts and issues in their first call but this may not be a proper method for everyone. I agree on this, but I don't feel like talking badly of a company, even given the fact too many governments -European and American- are cutting funds for disability related matters, including research. So what happens? Poor wallet, poor services.

Mainstream technology vs. dedicated devices: let's say this is an eternal dilemma coming since 2010s or so.
I mostly agree with this principle, let's buy everyone's technology rather than blindness-dedicated tools which might even become obsolete earlier.
But, there's a but. The "anti-woke" policy or whatever American government calls it, has suppressed lots and lots of "diversity, equity and inclusion" programs. Many of those projects are actually scam, or at least many webinars with percentages and good words while they share few concrete activities; but let's remember that Meta, Google, Amazon, are some of the first big tech companies who have fired diversity-related employees, moderators, especially meta social networks are less safe for marginalized people, now Meta glasses are trending for us blind customers but until when?
They have the ability to use us and then kick us out when unexpected. It applies to apple as well, but who knows. We are in a very delicate field.
I haven't bought Meta glasses for this reason. True I am not obliged to have a Facebook or Instagram profile to get them, but I don't trust that company any longer.

I feel a pioneer for Envision Ally solos glasses, and I'm optimistic as well. Time will tell who's right or wrong.

Sorry to hear you're having such a hard time with the Solos. Let us know how things go with the return. 🙂

Mainstream is going to overcharge you and then treat you like less than human. Don’t just be reactionary.

I will be the first to agree that the Ally glasses may not have been fully ready for prime time, but I was able to get mine working after a bit of trial and error. I was also able to set up a 1-on-1 call with 1 of the folks from Envision, and he helped answer my questions. Yes, the glasses and their connection to the Ally app are still very quirky, but I can get it to work more often than not. I know that's not exactly helpful, or a ringing endorsement, but the more I hear about the return process, the more relieved I am that I decided to keep mine and try to help Envision improve by providing them with feedback. Good luck getting your refund.

I really hope that you're able to get your money back. After the experience I've just had, I'm starting to seriously regret my decision to let my return window close, but what's done is done.

I haven't heard any direct comparisons between the Ally glasses and the Metas yet, so was going to attempt to record such a comparison to share here for anyone who might have been interested. Unfortunately, to put it mildly, the Ally glasses did not cooperate. I was trying to use some mini microphones I bought to capture the audio from the glasses, but it didn't work. I don't know if something about the Ally app prevents the output from being recorded; when I test drove Easy Voice Recorder, I was more or less able to capture audio from the metas, but this time, that half of the demo didn't even record for some reason. Anyway, the Ally glasses failed every single task I attempted to demonstrate, and they didn't just fail, they failed in spectacular fashion. They couldn't tell me the title of a DVD, and when I showed them the manual to my microwave, I was told that the paper had no text on it. I was still hoping to redeem the demo, at least a little bit, but when I asked the Ally glasses to describe the room I was in, my Ally made up a room that doesn't even exist. It sounded like a very nice room, but it's most definitely not a room in this apartment. If the recording would have turned out, it's something I would have sent to Envision to show them where they need to improve. The Meta glasses did a lot better. They read the title of the DVD which the Ally glasses failed to identify, and were even able to tell me how to bake up a can of Pilsbury biscuits, a test which I didn't even attempt with the Ally glasses since they were in such rare form. The Meta glasses' room description wasn't quite as accurate or detailed as I would have hoped, but at least they made an effort to describe the room I was actually in.

I can't imagine that there will be any more significant Ally updates before the new year, but starting in January, I really, really hope that they start taking steps to improve the user experience. I don't expect perfection by any means, but at the very least, I'd like the Ally glasses to be vaguely useable. In the meantime, I'm thankful I decided to get Meta glasses again. It isn't money I wanted to spend, but as frustrating as they can be at times, they're infinitely better than the Ally glasses at this point.

...ouch. 😖
For your sake I truly hope you can acquire a refund.

You’ve convinced yourself that it works; and that you like it. It doesn’t really work. You have to use it in very specific situations to get anything out of it. Do as you will. enjoy it. But it’s a waste of your time and it’s a waste of your money. and telling people that it is a good product is a lie. It does not work in the dark. It doesn’t describe people. It doesn’t properly read text. You have to ask it several times to do the most basic things. Even with the so-called improvements, it’s mainly not working.It’s not subjective. It’s not a matter of opinion. It’s an uncomfortable, poorly made product. And, it’s stealing your data. Facebook is not to be trusted. You’re selling your soul for a chance to identify a can of soup… Poorly. envision is obviously a terrible product. Echo vision might be great, but who knows what it’s being released.

I get the desire to use exciting technology. The desire to get more feedback from the world around you. Believe me I completely understand. But this is not quite ready yet. It’s nice to try it out. It’s nice to see what the possibilities could be. But this technology is a whole is still a good year or two away. I know that everything gets that Monica. But in this case, it’s true. Be patient. Take your time. Again, enjoy what you will. But right now, the technology is mostly a gimmick. It will absolutely get better. Just let it evolve. Don’t be reactionary. Don’t let a emotion get it away of any thinking.

Before purchasing my metas I gave the ally app a go out of curiosity and was not impressed at all. It was slow, clunky, and has given me far more wildly inaccurate answers than the meta glasses ever have. I don’t know if others who have used them would agree, but because the response time on them is so quick, I don’t even mind if it’s wrong sometimes because I often find that it gives me the correct answer after a couple of tries. I hope for the sake of those who have invested in these that they improve drastically, because no one wants a product you’ve spent good money on to be so disappointing. As I’ve said in another topic though, even though I’ve had them for a short time, I love my meta glasses. They aren’t perfect, but no piece of technology is. For the price though I would say probably the most exciting technology purchase I’ve made since the first iPhone I got back in 2011.

I totally agree about the Ally app. I was really interested in these glasses when I heard about them, so gave the app a go. and that's where my interest in them pretty much ended.

The app is terrible. Not only does it hallucinate worse than anything else, it also then tries to be all funny and sarcastic about them. I can't put into words how much those personalities rub me up the wrong way. Instead of giving me what I needed, it lied and then insulted me for querying it. No thanks.

But sorry to hear the experiences above as I had hoped to be wrong about them.

Honestly, it sounds like you're just leaving negative thoughts with out even watching, reading or listening to reviews on the meta glasses. I can't change your mind but what I can do is to aid you into the following. Please look at reviews or anything else before you judge a product just because you think you're gunna have a not so good experience. What do you have against mainstream companies in that they do a much better job at delivering than most of these blindy tech companies that are delivering their glasses out of false advertising? Because that's what we're seeing here with envision. To the rest of you, I'm sorry what you're going through with this company. Might I suggest yall do not buy anything from any of these blindy tech companies until you know for sure that the product you are buying is gunna work. And no, I'm not saying it has to be perfect but close to what you'd expect. To be quite honest I'd rather have glasses that's not 100 percent perfect but is close to being perfect and does a pretty good job at doing what it says on the tin than glasses which you can't even use to read anything, having to fiddle with everything just to get some sort of reading from them, if you get anything at all the second or even third try. Again, are the metas perfect? No but I'd rather get the majority of the text and if I need more information I'll play with it a bit more to get what I want than jankey glasses that run on flimsy hardware that don't even work half the time. On paper, Envision sounds great but it sounds like from user experience, in reality they ain't doing anything close to what you'd expect. And you're not even get your money back if you're requesting a refund? That's a bad company no matter which way you twist that and it screams, scam and this company should indeed be dealt with accordingly.

Mate, might I tell you that there's no use talking to a lamp-post? Ash Rain, in my experience so far, appears to be one of those exclusivist fanatics who think that exclusivist companies are something great while meta, for some yet-to-be-clear reason, is out there to defraud, debilitate and derail the blind community in whatever way possible. Look at the language being used; "sell your soul" indeed! Such people won't listen to neither reason nor logic; nor will they respond when confronted with logical questions puncturing their admittedly weak arguments. For instance, if you ask them what promisses any of these blind-exclusive companies are giving you regarding privasy, they have no answer... And in my experience so far, all fanatics are best left alone; the moment you respond to them, they get the fuel to grow; and no fanaticism has ever turned out to be good.

Yeah guess you're right. Well least I tried for what it's worth.

Hi all,

With some of the recent comments posted to this thread, I wanted to take a moment to ask everyone to please turn down the temperature on the rhetoric. Expressing (and challenging) opinions and ideas is welcome, and it contributes to a thriving community here just as it does in the wider world. At the same time, we live in an age of rage, where we say things to and about others from behind a keyboard that we would never say to someone's face... All in defense of our own opinions about things that are not absolutes and on which different people can come to different conclusions. The Meta glasses can work for some people and not for others--both of these things can be true. As the saying goes, "Disagree, but please don't be disagreeable."

I also have had very bad experiences with the n vision glasses.
However, thanks Michael for doing a great job on Applevis.
Just wanted to say, amen!

This morning, I had a notification from testflight that the beta of the Ally app had been updated. When I opened the app, one of the 2 allies I had created was completely gone, and there were two copies of the other one. I immediately took a screen shot and sent it as feedback. I think I still have the text document I drafted for the Ally that got deleted, but this doesn't bode well at all. I'm thankful that speaking rate can finally be increased, but apart from that small improvement, it seems that things are going from bad to worse. As I've said, I can't return the Ally glasses at this point, but I'm thankful I found an opportunity to get a new pair of Gen2 Metas for $20 a month. Ironically, I seem to be having much better luck with the Meta glasses than I did the first time I purchased them, although they probably only seem better when compared to the current state of the Ally glasses. In retrospect, it's pretty obvious that I should have just waited for the Echovision glasses to be released, but what's done is done, and from what I can tell, the Echovisions aren't going to fit my budget any time soon, and more importantly, owning 3 pairs of smart glasses seems beyond excessive.

In general, I still more or less agree with Ash. In my mind, the "Blindy" companies, as some here are calling them now, are, at least in theory, more likely to release products which are specifically designed to meet our needs. More importantly, glasses like the Ally Solos and the Echovisions from Agiga won't force us to use social media platforms which we may or may not be comfortable with or have any interest in using; I'm specifically thinking of how, if someone wants to use Aira on the Metas, it has to be done through Whatsapp.

It truly bothers me to give Meta even a single penny, but, at least for now, their glasses are the best option available for hands-free use. I've always been way too impulsive for my own good, which is why I didn't trust my instincts which were telling me to hold of on jumping on the smart glasses bandwagon. As for Envision, I still want to be optomistic, but it's getting more and more difficult. The Zoom meetings and Youtube interviews made the Solos glasses sound very, very promising, and perhaps in another few months, they might be, but they certainly aren't useable as they are now. I would never, ever pay full price for them; the Ultra Earlybird price was the only thing that convinced me to fall for all of Envision's marketing hype.

Bottom line: everyone should have the right to use whatever works the best for their specific situations without criticism or judgement. Warning about how shady Meta is is all well and good, and I completely agree with most of Ash's comments. However, at least as of this current moment, the Meta glasses are the least terrible option that is readily available. Really hoping the fact that Agiga is delaying the release of the Echovision glasses means that they truly will be as good as everyone seems to think they will be.

I really want to see an exclusivist company focusing on the needs of the blind individuals alone becoming successful, but to be honest, the odds aren't so great (historically speaking) when hardware products are involved. The simple fact is, it's incredibly hard for these small companies to produce (reasonably) good hardware at (reasonably) affordable rates at scail and yet break even. That is probably why Envision adopted the strategy of partnering with Solos, despite which, as I understand it, what they have right now is a mess. Their decision to keep a small team including for customer care might also have come from this worry of breaking even, which, again is just contributing to the whole issue. The way I understand it, the EchoVision, when it comes out, (anyone can correct me if I'm wrong here) will be focusing only on the North American market. For one, it excludes a very large chunk of the blind population and for another, it's an unsustainable marketting strategy for such a niche product, even assuming that it offers good hardware and great software.
As for privacy, all of these players are depending on one or the other fronteer model for their AI needs, and the privacy they're able to offer is only as good as the privacy of that model. For example, I believe the Ally app depends on some version of gemini and so any privacy concerns one has with Google should naturally carry over to the app as well. I'm not sure about what LLM EchoVision uses (I hope someone asks the company for clarification) but I'm possitive it's unlikely to be something developed in-house. This goes to the extend of saying that if Apple strikes a deal with Google regarding AI (as has been roomered), any privacy concern anyone has with Google should automatically migrate to any apple glass that is likely to come out.

I also agree with what the poster said about using mainstream technology, it’s about time that people should wake up and smell the coffee. We are a niche market when it comes to blind companies, and mainstream companies are committing more to Accessibility more than ever before. I regret getting the Envision glasses, before they got discontinued. I love my Meta Ray-Ban‘s, I don’t regret getting them for even a second.

This is one of the really serious downsides of the exclusivist market. If a company goes under, it does so along with all the support for all the hardware it was offering, leaving the end-user who has in fact paid a higher-than-average price mostly due to the exclusivist nature of the market and the limitations of scail in a lurch (and the chances of companies going under in an unsustainable market like this is rather high, again historically speaking). What happened with something as big as the Argus retinal prosthesis device being a case in point. I'm specifically speaking of hardware products here; the software market is a different ball game altogether; Leen teams can deliver quality products and even make themselves profitable; more importantly, even if they go under, the loss that the end-user suffers is much minimal.

Hello. I have been following all kinds of AI and wearables developments for a while now, and have used both the Meta glasses, and Ally Solos glasses. I also have a pair of Echo Vision Pioneer glasses on the way some time this month. I want to keep up on all of these types of tools for my day job, personal use, and for my YouTube channel, IllegallySighted if you're curious.

Overall, I have been quite impressed with the Meta Rayban glasses so far. I got them in around May 2024, and what I find encouraging about them is that they worked pretty well to begin with, but since have had several major updates that have added accessibility features and improved visual tasks capabilities pretty singnificantly. As a low vision user, I have found myself using them quite a bit for reading documents, mail, signs and other text around work and the neighborhood, etc. Not having to take my phone out, and simply ask about something I'm glancing at, but can't read or see well is really nice. I have a co-worker, and several totally blind friends who also use the Raybans, and they have also worked well. In one case, they have helped save someone's job.

I'm glad Meta has decided to open things up to third party developers through API's, and hope to see other blindness specific tools make use of these glasses. Honestly, Ally could probably work better with Meta, as I'm not impressed so far with the Solos glasses. More on that in a bit. There is room for both mainstream and assistive technology type devices, but people do need to actually try technology, be it hardware or software, before lashing out and saying it's worthless, as I've seen happen here sometimes. Based on videos or demos, I may have my own impressions, but trying something whenever possible is really important. That's why I chose to invest in all these glasses. In both my day job, and on my channel, I take recommendations seriously, and will give my honest thoughts and opinions after trying something, positive or negative.

Louise and anyone else, here are a couple of tips for reading in quiet situations. I have found that simply saying "Read this text" is a short phrase that pretty consistently reads and entire document. I have also found that you can literally whisper a phrase to Meta AI, and it seems to regularly understand it. This summer, I was in a waiting room with a bunch of people for Jury Duty, and they handed me a few fliers. I just whispered this phrase. No one seemed to hear me, and the glasses did an excellent job of reading the fliers.

Are the Meta glasses perfect? No. Sometimes you have to do a little coaxing to get the exact response you need, and it doesn't do certain things like describe people or faces due to privacy concerns. I think they do a pretty admirable job in many areas though, especially for a mainstream product not geared specifically to blind users. They are listening too us though as well. And this coming from someone who isn't the biggest Meta fan. I deleted my Facebook account years ago and haven't looked back... I actually found someone to buy my gen one glasses, and just got the Gen 2 glasses because I wanted more battery life.

I have mixed feelings on Ally at the moment. There are aspects of Ally I find fascinating, and that can work well. I like the idea of being able to create specific allies for diferent types of situations or tasks. I might create an Ally specifically for describing and reading things. I may create one for a drum coach, another for my preferences and reading resterauant menus, etc. I find that Ally does a pretty good job at live conversations when not using the camera.

When doing camera based tasks on the phone app, I find two problems. It often halusinates some, and mis-identifies some items, but other AI's do this too. My other problem is that it is generally very slow, both through the overall process, and because the AI's have to be cute and add fluffy language before doing the task. All I really need is something quick like Hold Steady, a camera snap sound, and then a fast response with the scanned text or item description. I don't need lots of other extra fluff telling me to Let's have a look, and whatever phrases it says inbetween before reading or describing.

The camera process is procedurally slow too. It readies you to take the picture, then you wait, and wait. It says its analyzing the picture, and you wait, and wait. Then it reads or describes things. This could take between 30 and 50 seconds. I admit it does a cool thing of reading text and describing images in one tasks when looking at a page that has both text and graphics. But it is really slow. This is with the app or glasses.

The setup and connection process for the Solos does leave a bit to be desired, and doesn't always work. The Solos hardware isn't as good either. The audio isn't quite as good, and the responsiveness of the glasses taps and swipes doesn't always work the best. The other thing that really bugs me is that in order to start an Ally conversation, is that you have to take out your phone and open the Ally app. Then you can start the conversation via the glasses. The app has to be open and visible. What I love about Meta is that, as long as Meta AI is running somewhere in your app switcher, the glasses will connect, and I can use Meta AI at any time. If I have to take my phone out to initiate the Ally conversation anyway, then I might as well just save money and use the app. The same slowness for reading and describing applies here too.

When using the Meta glasses, Gen 1 or 2, I'm honestly surprised that when you ask it to read or describe something, you're literally waiting around 2 seconds tops, and then it's answering you. Much of the time, the results are good too.

I'm waiting until a few more Ally glasses updates, maybe after the new year, before I do a more detailed video about this. I will likely have some initial thoughts on the Echo Visions by then too. But those are a few of my initial impressions of both glasses. Both types of technologies have their place, but as of now, the Meta Raybans are definitely my go to pair right now.

Thank you for that detailed review of the Solos, especially for us folks who do not have a pair of our own to test out. I always look forward to your detailed game reviews on accessibility on YouTube, and your attention to detail here is also very appreciated.
Thanks again! 😎

I more or less completely agree with everything you've said here. I'm struggling to justify saving up for the Echovision glasses since having 3 pairs of smart glasses seems excessive, but if I listen to enough favorable reviews, I may end up having to give them a try. As you said, at least for now, when it comes to the Metas and the Ally Solos, they kind of serve different purposes in some ways. Then again, having a huge collection of free or at least budget friently vision assistant apps is one thing, but collecting expensive smart glasses is entirely different matter, at least in my mind. I don't do reviews, and my job definitely doesn't require the use of smart glasses, but new tech toys are always awesome when I can find a way to afford them.

I'm still hoping Envision will turn things around with the Ally Solos glasses, but for now, my Gen 2 Metas have become my go to, for pretty much exactly the reasons you've stated. At least in the beta, though, we can finally increase the speaking rate for Ally, so at least that's something to be thankful for. I still miss the voices the very first beta of Ally had; just can't find a voice from this new batch that is pleasant to my ears, and their names are just weird, but that probably wouldn't matter quite as much if there weren't so many other issues to contend with. I will be looking forward to any demos or reviews you may be able to post, especially once you get the Echovision glasses.

Wishing you all the best Louise. Best of luck to you! 🙂

One thing which really surprised me is how far Bluetooth range has come in the past few years. One thing I really enjoyed about these glasses is not having to carry my phone around everywhere. I realise it’s a little thing, but sometimes the little things really start to add up. Being able to be in a completely different part of the house from my phone and either listen to an audiobook or football match and still be part of the conversation around me is great.

This is another huge reason why I decided to just keep the Ally glasses. In my mind, paying that much to ship them back just isn't worth it; it would practically negate the refund. Still, wishing you the very best of luck. I hope everything goes smoothly.

That was very well said. I couldn't have put it as well and that's why I never tried. I'd really love to see a demo of the EchoVision glasses from you if you get around to doing it.

As for privacy, all of these players are depending on one or the other fronteer model for their AI needs, and the privacy they're able to offer is only as good as the privacy of that model. For example, I believe the Ally app depends on some version of gemini and so any privacy concerns one has with Google should naturally carry over to the app as well. I'm not sure about what LLM EchoVision uses (I hope someone asks the company for clarification) but I'm possitive it's unlikely to be something developed in-house. This goes to the extend of saying that if Apple strikes a deal with Google regarding AI (as has been roomered), any privacy concern anyone has with Google should automatically migrate to any apple glass that is likely to come out.

Apple will likely get a license to run the models themselves, as has been rumored and as has consistently been the case with pretty much everything since way back in the Jobs era.

This is another huge reason why I decided to just keep the Ally glasses. In my mind, paying that much to ship them back just isn't worth it; it would practically negate the refund. Still, wishing you the very best of luck. I hope everything goes smoothly.

Relax, it's only 100 Canadian dollars, which should be just enough to buy a Big Mac or something. I'm obviously being sarcastic here, because everyone knows that you can buy at least two Super Big Mac menus with that much money! In any case I think that the worst part of that is having to accept the responsibility of ensuring that the glasses arrive undamaged, especially without being able to verify that yourself. Given that according to comments the company is based in the Netherlands, it's possible that they may actually have to comply with EU warranty regulations, which are quite consumer friendly and don't require anything like that, so maybe read up on that, or check out with a lawyer.

You sure it's not $100 US? I'd be careful with that last phrasing. That's, totally different and that's a big deal as well!

You sure it's not $100 US? I'd be careful with that last phrasing. That's, totally different and that's a big deal as well!

Of course I'm not sure, since I'm not talking from personal experience, and am instead basing my deduction on the following statement from the original poster:

After they simply wouldn't connect, I followed the policy that's posted by Envision. This required me to ship the glasses back at my own expense and risk. I had to ship them from Canada to the Netherland's and to make sure they are reasonably insured and arrive within the 30 day window, it cost $100.