Facebook, along with the luxury spectacles brand Ray-Ban, is launching its first ever line of smart glasses.
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The $299 shades are called Ray-Ban Stories and give users "a new way to capture photos and video" and share "adventures and listen to music or take phone calls," the tech giant said in a release.
The glasses were built in partnership with the multinational corporation EssilorLuxottica and are available online and in 20 different styles at select retail stores in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy and the U.K.
Users will be able to take pictures and record up to 30 second videos from “a unique first-person perspective,” with a five megapixel camera on each frame. They also feature built-in speakers for listening to music and a microphone that blocks out ambient noise for phone calls. The glasses will also pair with a variety of social media apps so users can import and share media.
The Menlo Park-based company also noted that the glasses are designed with "numerous built-in features" to protect users’ privacy.
So who will be buying these high-end shades?
"Mostly an influencer type thing, those people who are capturing all parts of their life," CNET Editor-at-Large Ian Sherr told KCBS Radio. "It’s something different from a go pro, and that is something that some people have found compelling."
"Our reviewer at CNET wasn’t terribly impressed, so maybe we’ll see what version two looks like," Sherr added.
The glasses mark the first product released as part of a multi-year partnership between Facebook and EssiloLuxottica.
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