Meta put the technology behind the Ray-Ban Stories and is now ready to put its name behind the Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses. The glasses were launched at Meta’s Connect event, and like many predecessor wearables, raise as many questions as they try to answer.
The glasses are meant to integrate with another big announcement at Connect, a range of new AI experiences across devices. So, what do they do? Well, they have a 12MP camera that’s fitted over the left front lens and allows for POV photo and video shots. They can record video in 1080p at 30fps and are good enough for social media posts. You can use the glasses to livestream to social media apps so, there’s that, and the same level of sharing goes for photos as well. As for privacy, apparently there’s an LED that signals when you are being recorded, although that doesn’t stop the person recording from turning on their camera wherever they feel like. Just get out of their way, apparently.
The audio is supposed to mimic spatial audio using directional audio techniques and so, you can be in dialogue with an AI system as you make your way through the world armed with all the knowledge in the world. Otherwise, the glasses maintain the sleek design and aesthetics that you would expect of a Ray-Ban, while integrating some quite sophisticated technology. All for about $299. There’s still not a lot of information about how well the glasses integrate wtih various apps or who the target market is for them, but if they’re cool, they’re cool.
