Facebook, which has frequently been announcing its revolution in the AR/VR industry, is now selling Facebook X Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses that take their physical consumer product line a step further. And their goal for this collaboration? According to Mark Zuckerberg, motions such as pulling out our phones and opening apps can sacrifice a lot of precious moments. Wearable glasses will allow us to capture these moments effortlessly without doing anything but using your voice. That means, no more taking your phone cameras out when the food arrives to your table. Or no more losing the opportunity to capture a serendipitous scene. On top of this, Zuckerberg mentioned that we will be using less hand-held devices in the future, so this is a gateway product to get used to for later innovations (I’m supposing, AR is next?).
If you don’t want to use Facebook Assistance Voice Control, there are physical buttons on the right side of the frame which you can use to activate a command. When the cameras are activated, a white light appears on the frame. When you’re charging the device, a multi-color battery status light can be found on the charging case.
For setting up, you can simply pair it with the Facebook View app, which allows you to edit and post the content you captured. Facebook will also go through their privacy policy before everything to make sure you understand how they will use your data.
The smart glasses are available in three of Ray-Ban’s classic styles: the Wayfarer, Round, and Meteor. You can pick and choose the glasses by selecting different colors and lenses, including sun, prescription, polarized, transition, gradient, and clear. So, if you’re nearsighted and want a pair of normal glasses, this could fulfill your need for daily use.
Smart glasses are not never-seen-before — Snapchat Spectacles was released in 2016 with similar camera functions (Media capturing + AR). From the batch PR reviews completed by various media outlets, there are some key takeaways of the actual product:
Pros:
- Can use voice commands to play music and receiving calls
- Capture moments hands-free
- Light and stylish, which can be used just like a pair of regular glasses
- 6 color and style options to choose from
- Memory stores up to 500+ Photos Or 30+ 30s Videos
Improvement Needed:
- 5MP is not HD enough if you’re looking for a good cameras
- The battery does not last long when used heavily
- Not water resistant
- Privacy concerns
- No AR capabilities
The Facebook Ray-Ban Stories starts selling today (Sept 9th) at $299 and are available in stores in the U.S., U.K., Italy, Australia, Ireland, and Canada.
