In 2007, Steve Jobs used a 3.5-inch screen to fold human information interaction into a glowing two-dimensional plane.
Nearly twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye. The challengers of yesteryear have become the targets of today's revolution. The wave of AI hardware is attacking smartphones, attempting to shatter this glass barrier. New forms of hardware, represented by AiPin, have emerged one after another, rising and falling like tides. In contrast, traditional PCs are more stable, ushering in a second spring through agents.
Since reinventing the form is difficult, wouldn't it be a better option to put AI into mature devices that are already integrated into people's daily lives?
Recently, iFanr exclusively reported that Apple's AirPods project with a camera had actually been delayed. In this lull between giants, a Chinese startup—Guangfan Technology—founded by an early team at Xiaomi and comprised of employees from giants like ByteDance, Alibaba, Huawei, and Tencent, has preemptively delivered: launching the industry's first fully-feeling wearable device with a camera, powered by native AIOS—presented in the form of headphones.
Last year, we reported on the launch of the LightSail headphones. Last week, the product officially went on sale, and we raised a question: why does a pair of headphones need to have a camera attached?
After 72 hours of in-depth testing, iFanr is convinced that "headphones with cameras" represent a direction for future AI hardware, but there is still a long way to go before reaching the finish line.
One watch, one box, one earphone—all serving AI.
When we talk about the LightSail AI All-Sense Wearable Device, we are actually talking about a large and well-defined hardware suite.
Lay it out on the table, it consists of an earphone case, a pair of ear-hook headphones, and a smartwatch. In this system, each component plays a specific role, and the flow of AI data is carried out collaboratively among them.
At the heart of all three is the earphone that hangs on your ears.
Guangfan has kept the weight of each earphone to under 11 grams, and the black and white "panda" color scheme effectively reduces the sense of bulkiness, while the C-shaped bridge ear hooks extend naturally backward along the ear canal.
In comparison, a single AirPods 4 weighs 4.3 grams, while a single Ola Friend earphone with an ear hook design, also launched by Doubao, weighs 6.6 grams.
The reason the LightSail AI Earphones are slightly heavier is because they have an 88° wide-angle, 2-megapixel camera embedded in the front, allowing the user to look directly at the world while wearing them. To alleviate privacy concerns, they do not offer users any regular photo or video recording functions; all images captured by the camera are sent to the cloud for AI interaction.
Overall, Guangfan chose the OWS open-back headphone design, with metallic speakers floating on the outside of the tragus. Combined with the battery at the end of the ear hook, the body cleverly achieves a 5:5 front-to-back weight distribution, so there is no fatigue even after wearing it for a long time.
When used with the charging case, these AI earbuds offer up to 90 hours of battery life. Beneath the skin-friendly shell, Guangfan has packed in a dedicated eSIM module and dual-band GPS. Commands captured by the earbud microphones and images captured by the camera are transmitted back here, then packaged and sent to the cloud via a separate network for analysis by a large data model.
Finally, there's the smartwatch with a 1.97-inch AMOLED screen. When auditory information is overloaded, it takes over and displays the key data that needs to be scanned for confirmation, completing the final link in the "watch-ear linkage".
The three components each serve their own purpose: the headphones take center stage, providing visual and auditory input and serving as the primary interactive device; the case is tucked into your pocket, acting as the central hub for computing power and networking; and the screen on your wrist serves as a supplementary interactive element, providing a home for frequently accessed information.
I'm definitely looking at my phone less now, but the interaction could be better.
According to the official specifications, this device is characterized by "full perception, all-weather, and proactive AI".
Based on several days of heavy use, I have summarized my experience with its core functions into three main categories:
Category 1: More proactive and intelligent schedule managers
In the mobile internet era, the most important information is often scattered across fragmented conversations on apps like WeChat and Lark. Guangfan's approach is to use AI to act as an information funnel.
When WeChat, Lark, or DingTalk receive a flood of messages, the AI automatically filters out irrelevant chatter and focuses on broadcasting high-priority information. The accompanying Hi Light software supports personalized settings for the frequency of summary broadcasts for each software, offering three options: real-time broadcast, quick summary, and concise summary. In my personal experience, the quick summary is the best choice that combines timeliness and efficiency.
Based on intelligent message notifications from three software programs, when specific times, locations, and events appear in chat content, the AI will proactively pop up a message asking:
This message contains a meeting schedule. Would you like me to add it to your calendar?
On the day of the meeting, the AI will act as a dispatcher. When the system recognizes that I have a topic selection meeting at 8:30 in the morning, the AI in my earphones will remind me at 8:00 that I live not far from the company and that I can leave home, based on the current real-time traffic conditions and commute distance.
After adopting the Guangfan voice broadcast system, I have indeed picked up my phone less often to check messages and add memos. However, the current limitations of this function are also obvious. To reply to Lark via voice, you have to authorize the cloud system separately in the app. To hail a ride, you need to have already linked your Didi account or logged into the Shouqi platform, which only covers some cities, using your Guangfan account.
However, this is a last resort. Last year, Doubao Mobile Assistant proved that breaking down the barriers of super apps is incredibly difficult. Guangfan's access to services through the cloud system is more like trying to dig a tunnel under a high wall.
Although there are occasional risks of interface changes or license expiration, at least the possibility of cross-application scheduling has been touched upon.
Category 2: Slightly dulled visual perception
The biggest selling point of Guangfan is undoubtedly its camera, which can cover the area of everyday line of sight. To summarize Guangfan's expectations for it in one sentence: to bring the action of acquiring information forward.
While shopping on the weekend, I saw a restaurant, glanced at the sign, asked a question, and it told me the ratings and queue status. When I spotted the black cat clock on my colleague's desk, the AI earphones used visual recognition to add it directly to my shopping cart.
Of course, the prerequisite is similar to taking a taxi—I need to log in to my JD.com account in Hi Light first.
But this part of the functionality is actually the part where I felt the biggest disappointment during my experience.
Human vision has always been instantaneous and continuous. However, the visual perception of the LightSail AI Headphones is point-like and delayed.
When a store catches my eye, I double-tap to wake up my headphones. What follows is a long period of waiting. You need to stand still for 8 to 10 seconds before you hear a simulated shutter sound; then, there's another 10 seconds of data transmission and recognition before the cloud-based processing center provides feedback on whether to add the item to your cart.
After careful consideration, I believe the problem mainly lies in two aspects: from a psychological perspective, if the camera is used for a long time, it will create pressure for the user and those around them to feel that their lives are being spied on; from a product perspective, the weak battery and compact body of the earphone cannot support the sensor to work for a long time.
The two constraints are unlikely to be overcome in the short term, but solutions are not impossible.
Currently, the earphone case, which serves as the data hub, supports 4G eSIM, but the uplink and downlink speeds of data transmission are severely limited. Furthermore, based on the current performance, the LightSail AI Earphone should follow the concept of "continuous computing experience," where the lightweight device handles millisecond-level basic data capture and dialogue, while the computationally intensive visual analysis is seamlessly handed over to the cloud.
If, with further optimization of the local model, more and more simple interactions can be processed directly locally without having to go through the cloud, the feedback speed may be able to reach a new level.
Of course, it would be much better if we used more energy-efficient wearable chips and switched to 5G eSIM.
Category 3: Conditionally triggered and usable AI memos
Compared to complex visual recognition, conditional triggering based on location and physiological data offers a significantly more impressive user experience.
If I casually remind my earphones in advance that I need to buy shampoo, dish soap, and laundry detergent next time I go to the supermarket, then when the Guangfan AI earphones recognize my location and pass by or enter the supermarket, they will proactively provide the reminder information to avoid forgetting anything.
This type of triggering logic also applies to physiological monitoring—I first set a reasonable heart rate on the watch based on my physical condition. Once the watch detects that my current vital signs exceed the threshold, it will remind me through the earphone to slow down or take a break.
In actual use, these two functions are stable and restrained, with timely and accurate prompts, making them the most practical highlights in my opinion.
However, aside from its functionality, there are still some minor flaws—
The LightSail AI Earphones rely entirely on the charging case as their computing and transmission hub. If you take the earphones out but leave the charging case at home or your workstation, the earphones will only go silent after the prompt sound, or prompt you to put them back in the case and try again. To use the AI services, users must carry the charging case with them at all times. During the few days I've been using the product, I've kind of "adapted" to it.
This creates a difference from the mainstream user experience, where people are used to wearing AirPods all day long and even briefly leaving the case unattended.
Can AI headphones replace mobile phones?
After 72 hours of testing, let's return to the question we started with: Why add a camera to headphones? And what is the actual experience like?
When we examine this product priced around 2,000 yuan, we must understand its underlying ambition—this product has essentially become independent of the mobile phone, with the only connection being Bluetooth.
This is precisely the biggest difference between Guangfan's and Apple's thinking—in Apple's logic, the iPhone is always the computing power hub, and AirPods are just an extension of the senses; while what Guangfan sells to you is a complete set of independent AI hardware hubs that attempt to completely break away from or even replace the mobile phone.
However, to realize this grand narrative, we must objectively distinguish which of the many flaws exposed under high-intensity use are secondary contradictions caused by the limitations of the times, and which are naturally insurmountable gaps in the short term.
Some obstacles are destined to be overcome with technological and ecological development.
Firstly, there are physical limitations in the operational mechanism. The timing of camera wake-up, the 20-second delay, and the operational architecture of this "edge-side acquisition – cloud computing" still have ample room for improvement in user experience with continuous optimization of the local model.
The current cumbersome third-party authorization barriers are not a terminal illness.
The market itself needs time to educate, but once this type of wearable AI product has enough influence, integration will become a piece of cake—the emergence of intelligent agent tools like Lobster has already set an example for everyone. As long as the influence is large enough, even national apps like WeChat and the giants behind them will flock to it.
When all applications start proactively providing APIs and CLI interfaces for others to access, breaking down ecosystem silos is only a matter of time.
However, some obstacles are difficult to overcome in the short term, or are even inherent.
This resistance is the "first principle" of headphones today.
In today's world where internet social interaction has become mainstream, the most crucial task of headphones is to establish and maintain a private environment for listening to music and watching videos.
But once it becomes a proactive AI assistant, it will inevitably interrupt you constantly with its voice—after all, this is the only way for it to demonstrate its existence and prove its value.
The equipment originally intended for immersion has become a source of interference. This sense of disconnect in the experience is an inherent flaw caused by requiring the auditory channel to bear high-density information.
This is not only a core experience issue that Guangfan, but also that Apple, OpenAI, and any product teams aspiring to develop AI hardware for headphones must clearly understand.
However, this does not prevent us from having high hopes for the picture it depicts.
Looking back at the Guangfan AI All-Sense Wearable Device, although there are still some frictions in terms of experience and interaction, it's not hard to get a glimpse of the bigger picture: the real purpose of adding a camera to headphones is to explore the ultimate form of the next generation of personal terminals.
Functionally, it will "replace" mobile phones, and even completely "eliminate" the presence of mobile phones in future life scenarios.
Imagine this era: when tools like "lobsters" allow people to control productivity even in mobile scenarios; in the future, you might be wearing a pair of headphones, or a camera headset from Apple or OpenAI, walking down the street, and with just a voice command, the headset can remotely wake up an agent on your computer to automatically perform complex tasks.
In this sense, Guangfan, as a pioneer, has indeed revealed a very attractive future for us. After all, the movie "Her" together constituted our generation's aspirations for an audio AI companion.
But when I pulled myself back from my reverie, I saw one thing more clearly: the evolution of hardware is always a dance in shackles.
This 2,000 yuan wearable AI device is certainly not enough to completely retire mobile phones, but it has indeed opened a crack in the door to the future.
All that's left is to open the door wider and pave the path behind it smoother.
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