TECHNOLOGY / FASHION

Facebook and Ray-Ban’s new smartglasses are surprisingly sleek

Amid recent claims of steering towards the metaverse, Facebook has partnered up with Ray-Ban to make social media a little bit more 3D — and stylish.
By ERIKS SEDIN
September 13, 2021

The new specs are called Ray-Ban Stories, and are equipped with two five-megapixel front-facing cameras on the very front of the temples. Much like the already established Snapchat Spectacles, the smart glasses record 30-second clips meant to be automatically posted on your favourite socials. Because, unlike the Snapchat Spectacles, these glasses can be hooked up to any social media — not just the developer’s platform. Facebook has created the Facebook View app, that allows you to post your videos and pictures on Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Ray-Ban Stories also outcompete the Spectacles thanks to the built-in speaker and microphone integrated into the frames. Either by holding the physical button on the top, or saying “Hey Facebook” the glasses can make phone calls, play music, or take videos.

The glasses are not equipped with any kind of screen or projector though, which perhaps explains how sleek and ”normal” they look for a pair of smart glasses. It only goes to show what tech giants, with their excessive knowledge and budget, can do for established fashion brands that want to implement high-standard technology without losing style.

The glasses are priced at around €299, and come in a total of 20 different styles. Classic silhouettes like the Wayfarer, Wayfarer Large, Round and Meteor all come as Stories-versions.

This summer, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerburg told The Verge that the social media platform has its aim steadily fixed at the metaverse phenomenon.

— The metaverse is a vision that spans many companies — the whole industry. You can think about it as the successor to the mobile internet. And it’s certainly not something that any one company is going to build, but I think a big part of our next chapter is going to hopefully be contributing to building that, in partnership with a lot of other companies and creators and developers, Zuckerburg told The Verge back in July.

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