52 Macworld • August 2019REVIEW
First up, put away any thoughts of Snapchat
Spectacles and Google Glass as while Bose Frames
have an augmented element, it’s AR audio we’re
dealing with here. Anything visual is relegated
to the design of the specs themselves (which we
rather like the look of).
The ‘wow’ factor comes in how you can listen
to music through these shades without having
anything plugged into your ear – and nobody around
you will notice a thing. Yep, you read correctly.
Going beyond first impressions, just how useful
are these wearables for enjoying your audio on the
go – and is there anything else you can do with them
besides streaming the latest Tame Impala track?
The answer might surprise you.Design
We had a chance to wear the frames for a fortnight
and we can first tell you that yes, nobody on the
tube will hear you listening to your music on the
morning commute. Not unless you’ve really jacked
up the volume as that’s when leakage is noticeable.
Pumping up the volume brings us to our main
niggle, in that playing with volume levels on your
Bose Frames can only be done through your phone.
While there is a discrete button on the right arm
of the glasses with which you can pause, skip and
stop, ideally with an augmented product like this
you’d expect to only touch one device at a time.
Even better would be the ability to control
music using head movements, but that’s perhaps
something to be rolled out in future models or