When Google Glass first came onto the scene around 2013, the future for smart glasses seemed bright. They were tipped to be a sleek pair of smart specs that would send you notifications from your phone, allow you to record your experiences and give you full control of their teeny tiny display with teeny tiny gestures, as well as much more.

The tech was exciting, the concept was the stuff of our sci-fi dreams and with Google at the helm, what could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot. The execution failed to live up to the hype in a multitude of ways. From the fact they looked a bit, well, naff, through to them costing well over a £1000/$1000, raising issues about privacy and consent and being worn by “Glassholes”.

Now with a huge range of mixed reality eyewear being developed, and entering the market, there’s a new breed of smart glasses that have the potential to succeed where Google Glass failed. And one of the newest and most exciting prototypes comes from Intel.

Developed by Intel’s New Design Group (NDG), the latest smart glasses offering is called Vaunt. With a super simple interface, minimal design that you might actually like to wear and non-intrusive notification system are these finally the specs to bring smart eyewear to the mainstream?