Nimo Planet is garnering buzz for its entry in the smart glasses field. Designed for productivity, the $799 Nimo mixed reality eyewear is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 processor that has been described as turning the spectacles into “a mini-computer that sits on your head.” Relatively light at 120 grams, the lenses can display up to six 720p screens, suggesting it as a potential laptop replacement for traveling workers. The frame arms feature touch support and support voice commands. The glasses aren’t designed for intensive apps like Adobe Photoshop, but for basic productivity like word processing and project management.

“Nimo Planet believes the smart glasses will make it possible for wearers to work and connect from anywhere,” reports Screen Rant, noting that the display “looks like a 40-50 inch screen from the user’s perspective.”

“We want to make the hardware as simple as possible and make sure the multiscreen productivity works great,” Nimo Planet’s founder and CEO Rohildev Nattukallingal tells Wired, adding that “all the big companies are focusing to build the next mixed reality world, but our approach is more about how we can help someone work anywhere without compromising productivity.”

A major perk is privacy; “no one can peer over your shoulder and see what’s on your screen — important if you’re handling delicate contracts,” writes Wired, noting that Lenovo also claims this advantage for its ThinkReality A3 tethered smart glasses system. What makes the Nimo promising is a pared-down approach. There’s no tethered battery pack, no built-in camera or speakers. Users can, however, pair to Bluetooth earbuds or connect to a smartphone to use as an input device.

The Nimo glasses can also connnect to a mouse or keyboard, though the company says it’s working on a patented input device. Right now, the glasses only get about 3 hours of battery life on a full charge, another area for improvement. There is no 5G or LTE connectivity; the Nimo beta glasses work only via Wi-Fi.

Running on a customized version of Android called Nimo OS, the glasses can’t run the Google Play Store, but have access to “thousands of apps” from the Kochi, India-based consumer electronics company’s Nimo store and can also run open-source software.

After about four years of development, Nimo “is finally launching an enterprise and a developer program, where third-party developers can get early access to dev kits.” The company is currently taking pre-orders on the glasses, which it expects to ship in the first half of 2023 to customers in India and the U.S.