New smart glasses from Meta are going on sale at the end of this month, and company CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed them during a demonstration this week. Attendees were able to take the Ray-Ban frames for a test drive.
This marks the second collaboration between Ray-Ban and Meta and its going on sale for more than double the first pair – $799 compared to $299. New features include a full-color, high resolution display; integration of microphones, speakers, cameras, screens and artificial intelligence; and the new Meta Neural Band, “an EMG wristband that translates the signals created by your muscle activity into commands for your glasses.”
That means that users can control their glasses with simple hand movements while wearing them. According to Meta, this process is “so effortless, it makes interacting with your glasses feel like magic,” and it replaces touchscreens and buttons. It’s made of Vectran, the same material used for the Mars Rover crash pads. Users can also interact with the glasses with a voice assistant.
“Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are designed to help you look up and stay present,” said a press release from the company. “With a quick glance at the in-lens display, you can check messages, preview photos, see translations, get help from Meta AI, and more – all without needing to pull out your phone. It’s technology that keeps you tuned in to the world around you, not distracted from it.”
Not everyone agrees with that assessment.
“I tried out the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses at Meta Connect,” said Wired’s Boone Ashworth, who attended the Meta Connect launch of the glasses Wednesday. “The screen was definitely visible to me, though it was slightly blurry and took a moment to focus on. Trying to read something or pick out an icon meant staring down and to the right at the lens, looking all but downright cross-eyed to anyone who might be on the other side of me.”
“Despite being a high-resolution display, the icons weren’t always clear when contrasted with my real-world field of view, causing the letters to appear a bit murky,” said CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian, another reporter who tried out the glasses at the event. “These visuals aren’t meant to wrap around your head in crystal-clear fidelity, but are there for you to perform simple actions, like activating the glasses’ camera and glancing at the songs on Spotify. It’s more utility than entertainment.”
Ashworth and Vanian both noted that the presentation this week was riddled with glitches, including a moment where someone using the “Hey Meta” phrase to awaken the glasses activated every pair in the room. Still, Ashworth said that these new Meta glasses are the “best smart glasses you’re going to be able to buy right now.”
While he said they are more fashionable than previous smart glasses iterations such as Google Glass, the Meta Ray-Ban Displays are pretty thick, clunky and “dorky looking.” William Gallagher of Apple Insider simply called them “ugly,” but also said they are ahead of Apple’s wearable glasses.
As Vanian noted, the glasses display “is placed off to the side, so it doesn’t obstruct your view,” per Meta’s description.
“And it isn’t on all the time – it’s designed for short interactions that you’re always in control of,” the company said. “This isn’t about strapping a phone to your face. It’s about helping you quickly accomplish some of your everyday tasks without breaking your flow.”
However, Tanner Higgin, a senior researcher at the education nonprofit West Ed quoted by Ashworth, said even small or murky displays can be more distracting than people realize.
“There is a striking physical change that happens when I watch someone using them,” Higgin said of smart glasses. “Their attention shifts to the display. There’s a kind of vacancy – a thousand-yard stare – that then gets reinforced by gestures as they move their thumb or turn the volume knob. There’s this second reality that seems to be, for some people, more significant to serve in any given moment than their immediate physical reality.”
As for the wrist band, Vanian said that was literally the most shocking part of the demo this week.
“Putting it on was just like strapping on a watch, except for the small, electric jolt I felt when it activated,” he said. “It wasn’t as much of a shock as you feel taking clothes out of the dryer, but it was noticeable.”
Using the wristband wasn’t quite second nature, he added. Vanian had struggled to get the “pinching” movement right and also felt a sense of “cognitive dissonance” trying to adjust between the screen pop-ups and the world around him. At the same time, he said the live captions worked well. Meta said the glasses can translate select languages in real time, too. Apple has also teased that as a feature of its glasses product set to launch next year.
Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are hitting shelves at limited brick-and-mortar retailers in the U.S. on Sept. 30, including Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Ray-Ban Stores, with some landing in Verizon stores soon after. They will come in black and sand colors and feature Transitions lenses.