Ray-Ban — the iconic sunglasses brand —is now eyeball deep in the smart glasses market with the debut of the second version of their Meta-connected smart glasses.
The first model — known as Ray-Ban Stories — was a miserable failure. But if you know Bill and Phil, you know that when we learned Ray-Ban and Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) decided to release a new, improved model, we pulled out our credit card and bought a pair. They are a vast improvement over the first model, but Meta and Ray-Ban have more work to do before these smart glasses are a gadget that you would wear every day.
They look great, and they are available in multiple colors and lens choices, including prescription lenses. You can connect them to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. If you use them with your phone to make calls or videos, there are five microphones that make you sound good and not muffled. The glasses contain a 12-megapixel camera that gives you decent photo and video quality even though the camera is located on the left hinge of the frame, which makes the pictures and videos look off-center. (Those with long hair may have to worry about their hair covering the camera and ruining their photo or video.) There is also a decent amount of storage (32 gigabytes), and the battery life is fairly solid (five hours on average).
The speakers are nice as well. They are especially clear for phone calls, and they work well as headphone substitutes. Although they do not use bone conduction, the sound is clear while allowing you to hear the environment around you. In addition, others can’t hear, as there is no “audio bleed” unless you turn them up really loud.
These glasses commit you to the Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ecosystem. You have to set up the glasses using the Meta View app on iOS or Android. They work best when synced with a Facebook or Instagram account connected to your smartphone, so you are pretty much limited to livestreaming or posting to those accounts. You can also use the app to access your Spotify account.
“They are a vast improvement over the first model, but Meta and Ray-Ban have more work to do before these smart glasses are a gadget that you would wear every day.”
Additionally, they allow you to use Meta AI, the company’s new artificial intelligence digital assistant. However, Meta AI is not nearly as fully developed as ChatGPT, although it does a good job at answering basic questions using the “Hey Meta” command. Meta has promised that it will add internet access and more capabilities to the AI, but we’re not holding our breath.
Our biggest concern is the creepiness factor that was also associated with Google Glass several years ago. When you are wearing these Ray-Bans and using the camera, you can pretty much take a photo or video of anything you see. And unlike if you were using your phone, no one will notice. Using the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses could make you feel like a creep or a peeping Tom. When you tell those around you that your glasses can take pictures or videos, their demeanor immediately changes, even though you let them know that you are only recording when the LED on the lenses is lit.
Still, while these glasses are not revolutionary, they are fun to use. Using the controls on the right-side temple, you can make calls, listen to music, take pictures, create videos and live stream. You can also use voice controls to do all those things.
If Meta follows through and improves the AI, virtual reality and augmented reality capabilities of these glasses, they could be even more fun to play with. Just make sure you give your friends and acquaintances a heads up.
