Amazon’s new Echo Frames hands-on: lighter, louder, still all Alexa

As soon as I put on Amazon’s new Echo Frames, I did the only thing you should do in that situation: I hit the button on the glasses’ left stem to turn the volume all the way up, and I said, “Alexa, play Taylor Swift.” A couple of seconds later, “Lavender Haze” was blaring out of the Frames’ internal speakers, but only I could hear it.

Okay: blaring might be a little much. The $269.99 Echo Frames, Amazon’s latest smart glasses with the Alexa voice assistant built in, won’t exactly blow your eardrums off with their booming sound. I’d describe it more like coffee-shop music — that ambient playlist meant to be heard but not the only thing you hear — but for your ears only. Amazon’s trying to create the same kind of open-ear “personal audio environment” that you’ll find on Meta’s Stories glasses or the Bose Frames line. The sound is good, and even the people standing a few feet away from me at Amazon’s device launch event couldn’t hear it, but no pair of audio sunglasses is going to outshine your headphones anytime soon.

High-quality audio isn’t the point of the Echo Frames, anyway. These glasses exist for two reasons: to look and feel good enough to wear on your face all day and to give you always-on access to Alexa. And based on my brief testing, they’re a big step forward in both categories.

It starts with the looks. The new Frames come in multiple styles and colors, and Amazon’s offering several different types of lenses as well. Even the first model of Frames, from 2020, looked more like a pair of glasses than most of its ilk, but that model looked more like an impulse CVS buy than a set of specs you really care about. This time, the stems are slimmer, the glasses felt light and well-balanced on my face, and the whole device is just more stylish. Pair that with the fact that there aren’t two camera lenses pointing out at the world, and hardly anyone will suspect you of wearing a gadget.

As for Alexa access, that hasn’t changed much. You’ll have to pair your Frames to a phone and then say “Alexa” to talk to the assistant. In my brief hands-on, Alexa heard me and responded even in a crowded, noisy room, but we’ll have to test how it works in wind and other challenging conditions.

The big challenge for these glasses will be the same as last time: what can Alexa really do for you? At its launch event, Amazon spent most of its time talking about the assistant’s potential in the smart home, but these are explicitly more mobile devices. Playing music is well and good, and sure, you can set timers and such, but is that enough to wear them on your face all day? Alexa can’t initiate phone calls for you or even do some of the device-control stuff you’ll get through Siri or Google Assistant. The Frames are a handy way to get to Alexa, but there’s only so much Alexa can do.

Ultimately, that’s why the looks are so important — if Amazon can make glasses you want to wear all day anyway, it won’t matter so much whether you use them all day. The Frames are definitely a step in that direction, but they’re not all the way there yet.