The Talaya Brief: XREAL Aura starts at $1,099 in the US

XREAL Aura opens for orders from $1,099 in the US

Google's Oct. 28 post calls Aura "the first wired XR glasses powered by Android XR." Orders opened that day in the US, Canada and Korea, and open Nov. 2 in Japan, with US shipments starting in mid-November through BestBuy.com or xreal.com/aura. Google says launch pricing starts at $1,099 "through the end of the year." MIXED reports that this is down from $1,279 for the 12GB/256GB model, and that XREAL's store promises price-difference refunds to buyers who paid in full before Oct. 28, which XREAL expects to start issuing within 30 days. We could not confirm the refund on XREAL's own page, and prices for Canada and Korea were not in what we read. More in our pieces on the price cut and the on-sale details.

South Korea plans police reports for smart-glasses cheating on the CSAT

Students who cheat with smart glasses on the College Scholastic Ability Test "will be reported to the police for potential criminal prosecution," Chosun Daily reports on the Education Ministry's plan. The ministry will also push to raise the disqualification period from one year to a maximum of three, which needs a legal amendment and would apply from next year's test. This year, one staff member per school will be assigned to check whether students are wearing smart glasses, and the ministry will review the feasibility of radio wave detectors. The ministry's own release was an attached file we couldn't read, so the details here are Chosun's. See our full piece.

Rokid launches Rokid Color full-color AI glasses at 4,999 yuan

Rokid launched Rokid Glasses 2, Rokid Color and Rokid Ring on Oct. 27, according to 36Kr. Starting prices in China are 3,699 yuan, 4,999 yuan and 1,699 yuan respectively. 36Kr quotes Rokid saying "the 'iPhone 1 moment' for AI glasses has truly arrived," which is a company claim. We found no US price or country list, and the part of Rokid's global store page we read doesn't list Color. Our Rokid Color piece covers what is still unknown.

Samsung's sleep apnea feature gets three levels, Korea first

Samsung Korea said on Oct. 28 that it received approval from Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. FN News reports the results will show as "mild," "occasional" or "frequent," available in South Korea from November on the Galaxy Watch Ultra2, Watch9 and Galaxy Ring. Users need two sleep sessions of at least five hours within 10 days. Samsung's release says Watch7 and Watch8 will follow through software updates on Wear OS 7.0 or later, with no date. We found no date for the US or other countries. Details in our earlier piece.

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 get Siri Recap and Live Rewind later this year

9to5Mac reports that both features arrive "later this year." Siri Recap summaries "auto-delete after 7 days if you choose not to save them," while Live Rewind "recalls what was just said in the last 15 seconds." 9to5Mac expects both in watchOS 27.3, which it says should reach beta soon, but that is its expectation and not an Apple date. 9to5Mac doesn't say which iPhones or countries are supported. Read our report, and yesterday's Brief is here.