L'Attitude 52°N's Berlin smart glasses include a year of free AI-assisted features; after 12 months the on-device assistant requires a paid subscription to keep working. The sunglasses — which pack an assistant called Goya that can identify artworks, answer questions and, with permission, analyse photos — retail for US$399; preorders open May 19 and sales begin May 26 following a Kickstarter that raised more than US$400,000 and earlier shipping delays.

What the Berlin glasses do L'Attitude 52°N, a Berlin-based start-up founded by industry veterans, has built its first consumer product around an AI assistant aimed at travellers. The company calls the assistant Goya, after the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. The feature set centres on contextual help: users can ask Goya about artworks, get background information while visiting museums and request local recommendations such as places to eat. Gary Chen, CEO and founder of L'Attitude 52°N, described the product as a travel-focused wearable. Chen said he previously worked on wearable devices at Oppo, OnePlus and HTC, and that experience shaped the glasses' design and software. He offered a short demonstration of the company's pitch: a wearer can say, "Hey, Goya, what's the story about Mona Lisa?" and receive spoken and visual context. With permission, the device can capture a photo of what the user is looking at and analyse it to produce an answer. The hardware is positioned as a conventional pair of sunglasses with added features. The baseline model, called Berlin, includes audio, media capture and the AI assistant. Photochromatic lenses are an optional US$50 upgrade. The package retails at US$399. Availability, crowdfunding and delays L'Attitude 52°N first offered the glasses on Kickstarter, where the campaign exceeded its funding goal and raised more than US$400,000. The startup has since shifted to a standard retail schedule while maintaining a promise to backers. Preorders for the Berlin model open on May 19, and the company plans to begin sales on May 26. Backers who supported the Kickstarter have already seen dates move: shipping was originally signalled for February 2026, then updated to a staggered plan with Berlin in mid-April and a second model, Milan, in early June. The company later pushed those timetables and now says Milan will arrive sometime in Q2 2026 without a firm ship date. The 12-month 'AI feature trial' The most consequential detail for buyers is an explicit limit on the glasses' smart functions. L'Attitude 52°N is offering AI features free for 12 months after purchase. After that trial window ends, the company says users will need to subscribe to keep using Goya and other AI capabilities. Without a subscription the glasses will still play music and capture photos and video, but they will lose the AI layer that identifies objects, answers questions about what the wearer sees and offers contextual recommendations. Company literature labels the offering an "AI feature trial." Gary Chen confirmed the trial length and described it as part of the product plan. When asked how much a subscription would cost after the trial ends, Chen said he didn't know — an uncertainty buyers must weigh against the up-front hardware cost. Why the subscription matters The trial changes how consumers should evaluate value. For someone who wants occasional navigation or the ability to look up an artwork while visiting a museum, 12 months of free AI may be enough. For a frequent traveller who relies on the assistant to read menus or offer recommendations, the cost of continued access will be a material factor.

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Preorders open May 19 and sales begin May 26; Gary Chen, the company's CEO, said L'Attitude 52°N has not yet set subscription pricing for Goya after the 12-month trial.

This article was created with AI assistance.