By Andy Boxall
Google has been hard at work improving Project Astra since it was first shown during Google I/O this year. The AI bot that understands the world around you is slated to be one of the major updates to arrive with Gemini 2.0. Even more excitingly, Google says it’s “working to bring the capabilities to Google products like the Gemini app, our AI assistant, and to other form factors like glasses.”
What’s new in Project Astra? Google says language has been given a big performance bump, as Astra can now better understand accents and less commonly used words, plus it can speak in multiple languages, and in combinations of languages too. It means Astra is more conversational, and speaks more like we do every day. Astra “sees” the world around it and now uses Google Lens, Google Maps, and Google Search to inform it.
A big part of Project Astra’s appeal is its ability to remember things, and Google has given it a 10-minute in-conversation memory, ensuring conversation flows and questions don’t need to be phrased in a certain way to be understood. Its long-term memory has also been improved.
The final update is around latency, which Google says now matches the flow of human conversation. Take a look at the video below to see how Project Astra is progressing. I’s looking very exciting indeed.
We were impressed with Project Astra when we saw it demonstrated at Google I/O, but frustrated that Google didn’t effectively even tease, let alone announce, a pair of smart glasses that would work with it in the future. It has now teased such a product with the announcement of Gemini 2.0 and the Project Astra updates.
The wearable is being tested in the real world, as you can see in the Project Astra video, where it’s obvious how well Astra suits hands-free use. Such a product can’t come soon enough as brands like Meta, with the help of Ray-Ban, and newcomers like Solos are already ahead of the game. Even Samsung is expected to launch some kind of smart eyewear in 2025.
What about Gemini 2.0? Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai calls it the company’s most capable model yet, adding: “If Gemini 1.0 was about organizing and understanding information, Gemini 2.0 is about making it much more useful.” While the updates and new features are mostly of interest to developers at the moment, we will see Gemini 2.0 in action on our phones and in our searches.
A chat-optimized, experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Flash — the first model in the Gemini 2.0 family — will be available as an option in the mobile and desktop Gemini app for you to try, while Gemini 2.0 will enable AI Overviews in your Google searches to answer more complex questions, including advanced math equations and coding queries.
This feature begins testing this week and will be more widely available in early 2025. There’s no information on when Project Astra or the prototype smart glasses will be more widely available.
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses just got an interesting new competitor
Wearing a camera on your face can make you and others uncomfortable. That’s something Solos has addressed in its latest pair of smart glasses, the Solos AirGo Vision.
While the frame has a camera in it, the unusual modular design means you can swap the front plate out for one without a camera without losing the AirGo Vision’s other features.
Read more
I’m obsessed with this app that turned my iPhone into a retro iPod
As great as modern technology is, sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. Smartphones today are capable of virtually endless tasks and are light-years better than mobile gadgets from a decade or two ago. Still, it’s hard not to have some nostalgia for “retro” devices like the Palm Pilot, the first Motorola Razr, or your trusty old iPod.
While doomscrolling X the other night, I saw that Quinn Nelson of Snazzy Labs had posted a short video about an iPhone app called “My Classic – Retro Console” that promises to turn your iPhone into an iPod Classic. It’s a very silly idea, but at a one-time price of $3, it was cheap enough that I decided to try it for myself. After living with my iPhone 16 transformed into an old-school iPod for about a day, I’m absolutely obsessed with it.
Using my iPhone like an iPod in 2024
Read more
Bad news, Samsung fans. The Galaxy S25 series might get a price increase
The Samsung Galaxy S25’s rumored launch date is just over a month away, but leaks still pour in seemingly every day. Unfortunately, the latest bears bad news: a potential price hike. The Galaxy S25 price may rise by roughly 150,000 won (around $105 USD), according to The JoongAng newspaper. The South Korean Won (KRW) has weakened compared to the USD (and currently sits at around 1,432 won to 1 USD), which means higher costs for importing components, according to Yonhap News, a South Korean news site.
The average price of Samsung devices is lower in foreign markets compared to Korea, but a major change in the home market pricing will spill over into foreign pricing, too. The recent political turmoil in South Korea, paired with increased exchange rates, is apparently driving the potential increase. The Samsung Galaxy S24 launched at $800 for the base model. The potential price increase means the Galaxy S25 could start at $900 or higher. Following that trend, we could see a starting price of $1,000 for the Galaxy S25 Plus and $1,400 for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The S24 Ultra was already $100 more expensive than the previous generation.
Read more
