Experienced the latest Ray-Ban smart glasses from Meta, retailing at $800, which might pique your curiosity.
Meta, the multinational technology company led by Mark Zuckerberg, has unveiled a new pair of Ray-Ban display glasses. Priced at around €680, these glasses are a variation of earlier versions of the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, which have been sold for years for taking photos, videos, making calls, listening to music, and accessing Meta's AI engine.
The new Ray-Bans offer several new features, including a pedestrian-only map function, real-time translation of Spanish, French, and Italian, video calling, and real-time subtitles. They are also more comfortable to wear than safety glasses, according to Meta.
Meta sees this technology as having potential in the workplace, particularly for employees who need to access information quickly. The company aims to build hardware that replaces a phone, but the glasses still require a phone to function.
The display glasses have a small electronic screen on the right lens where you can see text messages, video calls, or maps while still seeing the rest of the world. They are controlled with hand gestures and a wristband on the glasses. The neural wristband allows for "Minority Report"-like control of the screen images.
The glasses weigh 69 grams, about three times that of a normal pair of glasses and 1.5 times that of a regular Ray-Ban without tech. This weight is noticeable when wearing them. However, Meta claims the batteries in the new Ray-Bans last six hours.
The price of the new Ray-Bans, at $800, is steep and may decrease over time. The new Ray-Bans are heavier than normal glasses and the weight is noticeable when wearing them.
Meta has set a goal of having hundreds of millions and eventually billions of AI glasses in the market. However, the company does not believe the new glasses will hit the market anytime soon. Competitors like Google are also working on similar technology.
It's important to note that the new Ray-Bans are not the same as the Orion glasses Meta showed off last year, which are more technologically advanced but currently too difficult and expensive to produce and sell.
Meta considers its original Ray-Bans a surprise success, having sold a few million of them, while Apple sells over 200 million iPhones a year. The Ray-Ban brand glasses are produced in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica, a major eyewear manufacturer that reported producing millions of Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses annually.
The new Ray-Bans represent a shift from the pocket to the head, as they aim to get people away from their phones and into the real world. However, this growing movement may face resistance due to the steep price of the new glasses.
In conclusion, Meta's new Ray-Ban display glasses offer a range of new features and have the potential to revolutionise the way we access information. While they are currently expensive and heavy, they represent a step towards a future where glasses may replace phones as our primary means of communication and navigation.
