They look and feel exactly like your average Ray-Bans, but can also take calls, record and send voice messages, make images, live stream, and much more! We’re talking about the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, the world’s most popular and capable smart glasses designed to transform your day-to-day life.
Unveiled at Meta’s Connect event back in 2023, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have proven to be a big success with the public, selling millions of copies since their launch (and counting!). Created as a collaboration between two legendary brands, each iconic in their respective domain, the glasses combine the best of both worlds–Ray-Ban’s iconic design with Meta’s advanced AI technology.
They sport an ultra-wide 12-mpx camera able to record the photos up to 3024 x 4032 pixels and videos up to 1080p. Once a recording has started, a white ring light at the front of the glasses will start pulsing, ensuring that people who are being filmed are aware of it. With a total of 5 different mics located on the glasses, you can enjoy spatial audio, transition lenses that will darken when exposed to sunlight, a case with a built-in USB-C port for charging, four hours of battery life on one charge, and up to 36 hours with a fully-charged case.
But with a price tag of $250, an important question arises: are these smart glasses actually worth the price? Let’s have a look at what Meta’s AI features bring to the table and find out.
META AI
The biggest selling point of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses is undoubtedly the built-in AI assistant, which allows you to essentially talk to your glasses as if there was someone on the other end listening to your every word. The glasses replace your phone and allow you to have a completely hands-free point-of-view experience, which is the second biggest benefit of this product. Who wouldn’t like having their trip recorded by their glasses as a POV while they enjoy cocktails, walk around, and have absolutely no need to hold the camera up all the time?
But that’s not all. Imagine you’re browsing the internet and come across a new online casino or electronics store. Within seconds, simply by looking at your screen and saying the command out loud, you can get your Meta Assistant to instantly check the trustworthiness and safety of any website for you. Alternatively, let’s say you find yourself in a foreign country looking at an interesting restaurant. With Ray-Ban Meta glasses on, you can simply just ask your Meta AI assistant: “What’s the name and rating of that restaurant?” and watch how you receive an instant response right into your ear. The possibilities are (almost) endless, which makes the product especially tempting.
Thanks to Meta AI, you can also use your Ray-Bans to instantly translate speech in French, Spanish, English, and Italian. Just imagine you’re getting ready for a trip–Meta AI can help you throughout your journey to:
- Set a reminder to call your parents in 2 hours (or once you land).
- Take pictures or record videos of your point of view hands-free, allowing you to be in the moment and keep your phone in your pocket.
- Answer questions about landmarks or any place of your choice, providing interesting or fun facts to make your trip better.
- Translate signs, menus, and any text of your choice (including real-time translation when speaking with locals).
- Provide information about public transportation, weather, nearby restaurants, attractions, or recommendations on places to visit.
- Convert currencies by asking questions like: “How much is 100 euros in yen?”
- Remind you where you parked your car.
Whether you’re an avid traveller, influencer, enthusiastic tech geek, AI lover, or perhaps someone with a disability or special accessibility needs, the Ray-Ban Meta glasses will cater to you. Offering numerous cool features, wearing these glasses on the go will make you feel like an agent starring in a sci/fi spy thriller, especially if you don’t own a similar piece of technology already. If you do have the money to spare, chances are you will be very happy with your purchase.
What’s Next?
Meta is constantly expanding the capabilities of its AI assistant, and many more exciting features are coming to the Ray-Ban Meta glasses in the near future. What’s more, the tech giant recently teased a new upcoming partnership with Oakley and Prada, two renowned brands with high-end eyewear products, further reinforcing the idea that Meta is solidifying its position in the eyewear sector—and is just getting started.
While not much information is known about the collab at the moment, we do know that due to their increased weather resistance, the Oakley glasses will most likely be more expensive than Ray-Bans. Collaboration with Prada seems to also be a perfect choice for the company, as Prada glasses are notorious for their thick black frames, perfect for housing Meta’s hardware components.
There is one area, however, that could still halt Meta’s long-term success in the eyewear sector: privacy concerns. Meta has a well-documented history of privacy breaches, lost lawsuits, and customer data thefts, which raises concerns about the extent to which data collected through its smart glasses might be shared with the company. The assistant does occasionally notify users that it cannot access personal information when asked questions like ‘Who is this person?', but despite no scandals having emerged so far, only time will tell whether Meta has learned from its past mistakes–or how much of your data truly ends up in Meta's database.
