AI Comes to Cycling Glasses at MWC: Hands On

BARCELONA—At Mobile World Congress, you never know what you’re going to see. I got to check out the BleeqUp Ranger at a media event: a set of cycling glasses with an embedded AI-powered camera. The company claims it’s the first AI cycling camera glasses on the market, and after wearing them for a bit, I can say they’re packed with a surprising amount of tech.

A camera that shoots 1080p video or 16MP photos is built into the frame. It has a wide 120-degree field of view so you can capture a lot. You control it with a button on the side—tap once for a photo, and hold for two seconds to start or stop recording. The glasses can record up to one hour of video and has 32GB of onboard storage. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 chip powers the glasses and keeps things running smoothly.

The company says AI plays a role in video tagging. If the glasses detect a sudden swerve, rapid acceleration, or a possible emergency, the footage is automatically flagged so you can find key moments quickly.

The temples of the glasses house built-in speakers, and I was impressed by the sound. In a crowded event hall, the audio was so clear and loud that I thought it was coming from somewhere in front of me—but it was just the glasses. You control playback by tapping touch-sensitive areas of the frame itself. BleeqUp says the glasses support hands-free voice controls, but I didn’t get to test that feature.

The Ranger glasses have an IP54 rating, meaning they can handle rain and dust—important for cycling. During my time with them, they never felt hot or uncomfortable. They’re lightweight, and prescription wearers can get clip-on inserts, so you don’t have to double up on glasses.

The BleeqUp Ranger is expected to launch for around $500 in May, but there’s a catch—it’s a Kickstarter project. That means it could show up, or it might not. We tried a working prototype but didn’t get to test it on an actual bike, so real-world usability remains an unknown.

Check out more from Mobile World Congress, including a phone endorsed by Drew Barrymore (yes, for real).

About Iyaz Akhtar

Mobile Analyst

I’m one of PCMag’s mobile analysts. That means I check out phones, hotspots, and mobile networks. Technology has been my passion and hobby since I was a child. I’ve covered tech professionally for over 15 years at outlets including The Apple Blog, This Week in Tech, and CNET.

Read Iyaz’s full bio

Read the latest from Iyaz Akhtar