Detailed Review
For a similar price, Oakley brings the HSTN to the market, intelligent glasses that technically remind us a lot of the newer Meta Fury. The specifications of both models are absolutely identical on paper. In my everyday test, however, I wanted to find out if the glasses really perform exactly the same or if there are hidden differences. The glasses were purchased by me for this review.
Battery and Comfort
The weight of the Oakley HSTN is within the typical range for smart wearables, and the frame itself sits comfortably and solidly. The battery life of over eight hours from the spec sheet has proven to be very realistic in practice. A clear difference to the Meta Fury, however, is evident in the included charging case. While the Oakley case also provides additional battery life on the go, the build quality drops off noticeably. The material feels more like it came from a home 3D printer. In addition, inserting and removing the glasses is a bit more fiddly with the Oakley version. Here, the newer Meta model clearly takes the lead with its chic faux leather look and better handling.
Visual Impression
As with most pure AI glasses, the Oakley HSTN also lacks a built-in display. The interaction runs entirely via acoustic signals, the built-in camera, and the connected smartphone. Oakley offers various design options, and anyone who needs visual aids can also have prescription lenses made here. For my review, I used the standard lenses without prescription.
Software
The connection to the smartphone works completely smoothly via Bluetooth 5.3 and WiFi 6. The Meta AI app runs there, which also manages the 32 GB of internal storage. This space is enough for roughly 1000 photos or several short videos. The Meta AI offers great features for everyday use. You can ask questions, have things in the environment analyzed, or request translations. Most of the time, this works excellently. Occasionally, however, the AI is slightly confused regarding the language. Sometimes it suddenly answers in English and claims not to understand German, only to chat flawlessly in German again in the very next sentence. A small bug that causes astonishment every now and then.
Sound
When it comes to sound, there are clear differences to the Meta Fury. The Oakley HSTN does deliver good sound, which I personally like better than the Rokid AI Glasses, for example. However, the quality does not quite reach the newer model. Possibly due to the slightly different shape, the highs are sometimes reproduced a bit strangely. Another problem apparently lies with the software. Occasionally, it weirdly readjusts the equalizer, which leads to inconsistencies in the frequencies. Fortunately, this does not happen constantly, but it definitely stands out in a direct comparison. The performance is still well sufficient for pleasant background music in everyday life.
Camera
The camera setup reads completely identical to the Meta Fury with 12 megapixels, an extreme wide angle, and 3K video recordings, but fine differences do show up in my test. Although the settings in the app are exactly the same, the Oakley HSTN camera delivers slightly better colors and slightly higher brightness in the recordings. Operation via a button press or holding down on the temple works pleasingly intuitively. Photos and videos turn out well in everyday life and noticeably benefit from this better color tuning. The major problem with both glasses, however, remains their use in loud environments. Since a display is missing, you are absolutely reliant on the shutter sound. If you miss this tone because of a lot of ambient noise, recording turns into flying completely blind. You simply do not know if a video has started, if you touched the button long enough, or if the recording has already ended. This makes filming in busy situations very exhausting.
Conclusion
The Oakley HSTN are potent smart glasses with a great integration of Meta AI. Technically, they are in no way inferior to the Meta Fury on paper, and in terms of image quality, they even score a few points with better colors and higher brightness. In a direct comparison, however, weaknesses also become apparent. The Oakley charging case unfortunately feels quite cheap, and the sound suffers from occasional software dropouts as well as somewhat weaker highs. Anyone who can do without the premium case and the more rounded sound of the Meta Fury and instead places a bit more value on more vibrant photos gets a decent device here. The lack of visual feedback when recording in loud environments, however, remains a major point of criticism in everyday life for this model too.