At first glance at these glasses, they look like any other pair of stylish specs.
But upon closer inspection, you’ll notice two tiny cameras in the arms that let wearers snap photos and videos on the sly.
The £299 glasses are the latest wearable from Meta, which unveiled them during the Meta Connect 2023 conference last night.
They feature new AI capabilities, meaning they could soon identify places and objects that people are seeing, as well as perform language translation in real-time.
‘Smart glasses are the ideal form factor for you to let AI assistants see what you’re seeing and hear what you’re hearing,’ Mark Zuckerberg said.
At first glance at these glasses, they look like any other pair of stylish specs. But upon closer inspection, you’ll notice two tiny cameras in the arms that let wearers snap photos and videos on the sly
The £299 glasses are the latest wearable from Meta, which unveiled them during the Meta Connect 2023 conference last night
Zuckerberg announced the new glasses during the Connect conference at Meta’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.
‘Advances in AI allow us to create different (applications) and personas that help us accomplish different things,’ he said.
‘And smart glasses are going to eventually allow us to bring all of this together into a stylish form factor that we can wear.’
The second-generation Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses feature improved speakers with extended bass, higher maximum volume, and improved directional audio.
Meanwhile, a new 12MP ultra-wide camera allows wearers to snap photos and record videos up to 60 seconds.
Likely designed with Instagram Stories in mind, photos are automatically taken in portrait orientation.
‘We’ve also made the blinking privacy LED on the outside of the glasses bigger and more noticeable, so people know when someone is capturing photos or video or livestreaming from the glasses,’ Meta said.
In terms of battery life, users can snap away for up to four hours at a time, before using the accompanying case to charge the glasses.
The glasses feature new AI capabilities, meaning they can identify places and objects that people are seeing, as well as perform language translation in real-time
Users can choose between the iconic Wayfarer style or a new Headliner syle, in five colours – Matte Black, Shiny Black, Jeans, Rebel Black, and Caramel
While you might worry that the cameras, microphones and battery would amount to a heavy device, Meta reassures that it has reduced the weight of the frame and improved the weight distribution, making them ‘lighter and more comfortable.’
Meta’s AI has been integrated on the smart glasses, and can be activated with the wake phrase ‘Hey Meta’.
For example, if you wanted to share a photo that you had snapped with a friend, you could simply say ‘Hey Meta, send a photo to [insert name].’
Unfortuntately, this feature is only available in the US at launch, although Meta says it plans to ‘expand availability and the types of questions you can ask over time’.
Users can choose between the iconic Wayfarer style or a new Headliner syle, in five colours – Matte Black, Shiny Black, Jeans, Rebel Black, and Caramel.
The glasses will have a starting price of £299 ($299) when they go on sale on October 17.
The smart glasses are Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s latest attempt to maintain interest in the ‘metaverse’.
Last year, it was revealed that Meta is committed to devoting 20 per cent of its costs to its Reality Labs division – despite the company’s stock price dropping 60 per cent and a top metaverse executive departing.
Fewer than half the expected 500,000 users had signed up for Horizon Worlds – the firm’s main virtual reality world – in December.
Meanwhile, over the course of a year, Meta lost at least $30 billion in its bid to build virtual worlds.
