Devices
Brilliant Labs' $299 Halo Puts On-Device AI and Agentic Memory in Consumer AR Glasses
Brilliant Labs is opening preorders on Halo, a 40-gram color-display AR headset that pairs an Alif B1 edge processor with a patent-pending memory system called Narrative, at a launch price that undercuts every comparable device on the market.
Mainstay Communications Team · · 3 min read
In brief
Brilliant Labs unveiled Halo, AR glasses priced at $299 for preorder, featuring a 0.2-inch full-color microOLED display and an Alif Semiconductor B1 processor with a dedicated neural processing unit for on-device AI. The headline feature is a patent-pending system called Narrative, which continuously converts what the wearer sees and hears into compressed mathematical representations, building a private long-term memory the glasses' AI assistant can query years later. Shipping is set to begin globally in late November 2025.
The Device
Brilliant Labs built Halo around a 0.2-inch monocular microOLED that sits in the wearer's peripheral vision, adjustable for prescriptions ranging from +2 to -6 diopters. The frame weighs just over 40 grams and runs on bone-conduction speakers with dual microphones. Bluetooth 5.3 handles the connection to a companion app on iOS and Android.
The battery is rated at up to 14 hours of continuous use, a figure the company attributes largely to the efficiency of its core processor.
The Processor
Halo is the first consumer device to ship with the B1 chip from Alif Semiconductor, a part Alif calls its Balletto series. The B1 pairs an Arm Cortex-M55 CPU with an Arm Ethos-U55 neural processing unit capable of 46 billion operations per second.
That NPU lets Halo handle a portion of its AI workload without a cloud round-trip. Latency drops and battery drain stays manageable because only the heaviest inference tasks route to the cloud.
Narrative: The Agentic Memory System
The headline feature is a patent-pending system Brilliant Labs calls Narrative. Using the glasses' optical sensors and microphones, Narrative continuously captures context from the wearer's day, converting everything to what the company describes as an "irreversible mathematical representation."
No raw audio or video is stored, according to Brilliant Labs. The compressed embeddings power Halo's AI assistant, Noa, allowing it to recall specific names, conversations, or objects "years or even decades later" when asked. The company says no third party can access that personal database.
Noa itself runs on a free Basic tier with daily usage caps and a paid Plus subscription for heavier use. It handles real-time conversation, visual question-answering, and translation.
Vibe Mode
Beyond memory, Brilliant Labs is shipping an experimental feature called Vibe Mode. It lets wearers build shareable miniapps using plain-language voice commands, no coding required. The resulting apps publish to a Brilliant Labs app store and can be remixed by other users.
The feature is positioned as a way to extend the device's usefulness without waiting for a formal developer ecosystem to fill in.
Open Source and Pricing
Brilliant Labs is releasing Halo as fully open-source hardware. Design files and source code are published on GitHub, following the same approach the company used with its previous Frame device.
Preorders opened in July 2025 at $299 in Matte Black. The company is also selling the glasses through SmartBuyGlasses for buyers who want prescription lenses fitted. Shipping is set to begin on a first-come, first-served basis in late November 2025 as a limited release.
The Market Context
The $299 price point puts Halo in meaningful distance from the devices it most resembles. Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses start at $379 and carry no display. Snap's untethered Specs, announced in mid-2026, run $2,195. The other glasses at or near $299 are audio-only or camera-only designs; none ship with a full-color display and on-device neural inference.
The comparison that keeps coming up in coverage is Brilliant Labs' own Frame, a prior monochrome device that served a developer audience. Halo is a consumer push: lighter, all-day battery, and a memory system that doesn't require users to know what they're doing with AI to get value from it.
Sources
- Brilliant Labs Unveils All-day Smart Glasses with Color Display, Pre-orders Launch at $300, Road to VR
- Brilliant Labs launches Halo: AI smartglasses that last all day, The Ghost Howls
- Brilliant Labs Halo smart glasses want you to vibe code your own apps, Pocket-lint
- Balletto B1 DevKit, Alif Semiconductor
- Halo product page, Brilliant Labs
Companies mentioned
Mainstay Digital · Spatial and 3D visualization for industrial companies