Explanation

In terms of google gemini, which will only really run on slightly newer handsets, this relates to the fact that if you switch to live mode inside it, you can then turn on either live screen viewing, or live video feed, where gemini can then interact with you via voice conversation relating to what's appearing on-screen, or in front of the camera - literally lets a blind/VI person ask gemini questions about their surroundings, etc.

You can also get your android handset to place a couple of gemini-specific widgets on your home screen to immediately launch things like live screen-sharing, or live video-sharing modes, with no other interaction besides permission approval required.

What Peter Meijer has done there is that, if the vOICe picks up that you are running gemini live screen mode, then it will automatically activate camera preview mode, which you would otherwise need to have done by either swiping left-to-right using two fingers, or having activated a talkback gesture to then pass next gesture through to system, and then performed a long left-to-right swipe with a single finger.

You can then just listen to the vOICe via a headset/earphones, and when you think there's something of interest, you can just talk to gemini and ask it about what's now appearing on-screen interactively - the only real issue with that is that, yes, gemini's recognition engines run in the cloud, so you will, at times, experience a bit of lag, but not too bad at all most of the time.

This does, again though, bring up the same-old, same-old point that it's not going to be the best thing for a blind/VI person to need to use one hand to hold their phone, or even if they wore it on a lanyard around their necks, this is not going to be the safest/most convenient arrangement in all environments/locations.

Peter Meijer has also implemented/included the ability to make use of external cameras via a specific form of interface - if you go into options, camera, at the bottom of that screen, there's an edit field to allow you to provide the http streaming URL for an alternative camera source, and it's sort of based on the principle of real-time streaming protocol.

Now, this is the reason I am trying to source a suitable USB camera to use in the combination above, and the requirements are that it would count as a standard USB webcam, and to make as sure as possible of compatibility across-the-board, it needs to be what gets referred to as a driverless webcam, which would technically require it to be UVC (universal-video-camera?) compliant. In terms of field-of-view, we would probably want it to offer at least 70 - 140 degrees, and it can not have too short a focal length since you would want to be looking at your whole environment with it.

In terms of it rendering the camera view/input to the vOICe, since that requires a live streaming URL, it seems like the only current pieces of software that can offer this natively on the android platform are either USB camera (free), or USB camera (pro) - the pro version is still not perfect in terms of UI-accessibility, but it's quite a bit cleaner, and what they both offer is the ability to fire up automatically and provide a local streaming URL where the vOICe can pick up live camera input, and you should also be able to just make use of that URL in something like chrome web browser to have camera input rendering live on-screen, or else some other endoscope/inspection camera software might also help with that, but anyway.

So, to finally get round to the point, I have been wondering about trying to get another android developer to look into producing a simpler/cleaner bit of software to implement the real-time streaming process in such a way that blind/VI users could work with it better, but the most important thing right now is trying to source a form of camera hardware that will work in this context - used to have a generic replica of the Technaxx TX25 video sport sunglasses which had a camera embedded in the frame, and which allowed you to attach them to external devices via a USB lead using the standard USB-A connector on the outside end, to then directly stream video output like a standard webcam, but the device I have here is no longer working, and while I can get the setup to work with a standard desktop webcam, and with an endoscopic inspection camera lead I have here, the one is too large to be suitable in this context, and the other has literally got a focal length of something like 5cm, and a rather narrow field of view.

Ideally we would want to find something like the video sport camera sunglasses, with live video streaming available via a standard USB-C lead, or if it offered USB-A, then you would require the relevant on-the-go adapter to connect it to your android handset, or else if it offered live wifi-based streaming, running off something like a mobile hotspot configured on your handset, you might still get smooth enough streaming, but not necessarily - physical lead connection is probably most feasible, as well as battery life if it's running off it's own power source.

Otherwise, if can't immediately source glasses with an embedded camera, then at the very least a relatively small/inconspicuous webcam might also be feasible, as long as it offered 1080p full-high definition (FHD) clarity/resolution video quality, a decent field-of-view and focal-length?

So, your thoughts on the concept, software possibilities, and any ideas/sources relating to obtaining suitable cameras would be very helpful.

Just in case I might be able to source some suitable prodicts locally, and check them out physically before acquisition.

Slightly more expensive than would like to consider in terms of feasibility for all people, and not locally available to check-out before the time -

And an example of making use of the above in combination with the vOICe for android - to show you exactly how it can then be used as source of visual input to render audio interpretation: The vOICe for Android with external USB camera glasses

As well as another little demo, specifically explaining overall concept - using the vOICe to 'see' something, then following it up by asking gemini for more details - No brain implant! The vOICe vision BCI with USB camera glasses and A.I. scene description

Although was still thinking that might like to try sourcing locally available standard USB webcams, with relatively slim/trim physical form-factor, and try stripping them down to be repackageable and attached to something like a set of glasses - if I could get hold of a local group of electronics/robotics enthusiasts, and make it a form of challenge for them, maybe that could work out well? - have decided to go ahead in the meantime, and have placed international orders to have the following pieces of hardware mentioned above sent to me since, unless I have truly misunderstood something about them, they should both work/cooperate with basic setup, and this will give me the ability to try out whole idea for real:

These will both, hopefully be arriving by the end of February (2026), and a form of experimentation/development with regards to the alternative form of simpler/cleaner software for the android platform is also already under way.

Ok, the camera glasses arrived here today, they seem exactly what was hoping for - pretty well made/solid, and when, as initial test I plugged them into my windows 11 laptop, under camera software it was quite happy to switch to the camera device labeled as UVC camera and take a snapshot.

I also got a sighted connection to confirm the buttons on their right arm for me - on the outside it seems like there are back/forward, or volume up/down buttons, with the bluetooth button in the middle of them - think that would also be the one you'd use to answer/reject calls if you were using them as bluetooth earphones.

Under the right arm, there's a smaller pressure button that seems to be the camera mode button, to enable either taking photos or recording video if you have an SDCard installed, or it would then also be the one you'd then possibly use to switch between video streaming mode, or file transfer mode while connected to a device, but don't think that's an issue in my case since don't plan to use a microSD memory card at all.

Also seems long-pressing that camera mode button powers them up and then turns them off, but will play around with all of this a bit.

There is a microSD memory card slot under the right arm nearer to the lenses, and on both arms, you can use the micro-USB slots to plug in the earphones that came with the device since it can act as a bluetooth earphone receiver, whereas the right arm's one also counts as the charging socket.

Using the model number off amazon, I found this online manual, which is where was able to read up about changing modes, etc. - to confirm, I used beMyEyes to scan a page or two of the pamphlet that was inside the box, and I recognised some specific phrase combinations, so am 99% sure it's the correct manual, although graphical diagrams, etc. won't be of much use to me directly: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71FHHHblBZL.pdf.

Anyway - to confirm - they work perfectly well with the vOICe in conjunction with USB camera pro, and, yes, even tried out walking around my house a bit asking gemini live screen sharing a couple of questions every now and then, just to make sure the overall combination would work across-the-board.

Outline of complete setup is the following - had my android handset paired with my hearing aids via bluetooth - had them acting as separate bluetooth earphones, while the camera glasses were connected to the handset using their own cable plugged into the on-the-go adapter, and had first brought up USB camera pro software, made sure it had selected the correct camera device, made sure it was offering the lan-sharing URL - re-copied it again just to make sure, went into the vOICe, into camera settings and made sure the streaming URL was correct, and that that camera was selected, exited it, and then fired up gemini live screen sharing and brought up the vOICe again, and, there you go - all working exactly as I was hoping it would.

For final form of usability confirmation, I exited the vOICe, brought up USB camera pro and hit back button, and while had last time told it to run in background when it offered choices, just exited it fully this time, and disconnected camera glasses - when then reconnected them, USB camera came up sort of automatically, and I just immediately told it to run in the background, fired up the vOICe, and there-you-go - working perfectly again using the cross-session cached settings.

Now, I am quite happy besides considering sorting out longer cables, or maybe a form of light-weight inline charger that still allows data to pass through, and trying out some forms of touch-blocking - know the vOICe offers it's own, but also want to make sure it won't then interfere with macro-droid reacting to the shake gesture to just describe the imagery once-off. Otherwise, might also need to figure out how to tell google gemini live to go-to-sleep and then wake up again sort of hands-free, and think this whole setup should be good-to-go!

Lastly, apparently the glasses look modern, stylish, and maybe slightly cyber-punkish, but they are actually not too heavy, are definitely comfortable, and feel pretty well-made - I am happy all-round - thanks, Peter for all your help in figuring out this combination!