The social network Facebook showed smart glasses. They are released together with the Ray-Ban brand and cost $ 299.
The device looks like ordinary glasses, but is equipped with several interesting functions at once. Firstly, the device can take photos and videos using two built-in 5-megapixel cameras. The duration of the video is no more than 30 seconds, and in total about 30 short videos or 500 photos will fit on the built-in memory of the glasses. A special feature is that one camera writes square videos, and the second takes photos. For this reason, the picture is slightly shifted to the side. This can be a problem when shooting in the first person. And the image quality is an order of magnitude worse than that of smartphones five years ago.
The glasses allow you to play music from your smartphone through the speakers built into the shackles, receive phone calls and interact with the Facebook View app. The View application is extremely simple, in it you can see everything taken with glasses, synchronization occurs instantly and without your participation. The application has a small and simple editor, you can edit your pictures or videos, create collages. The device connects to smartphones on the iOS or Android operating system using Bluetooth.
However, the battery of the glasses is not happy with its autonomy yet – they work for about 6 hours and on average discharge by 20% in just an hour of use. It takes only one hour to fully charge the gadget. The kit includes a USB Type C cable.
Glasses can be used by people with both good and poor eyesight – in the latter case, you need to consult an ophthalmologist to know which lenses to choose when ordering. Depending on the type of lenses, the price also varies: from $ 299 to $ 379.
The idea to make Ray Ban Stories came about thanks to one email in 2019. In it, the head of the Luxottica Group company offered to make such glasses. The addressee was Mark Zuckerberg, who supported the development.
Facebook does not expect that these simple cameras will replace people’s smartphones. “Our mission is to help create tools that will help people feel connected anytime, anywhere. We want to create a sense of social presence, a feeling that you are next to another person living in the same space, regardless of physical distance,” they say on Facebook. The cooperation between the two companies looks interesting, as they combine their strengths — Ray-Ban models are popular and well-known in the market. The global meaning of launching glasses is that Meta wants to accustom the audience to hand-free devices in this way. This will make it easier for people to get used to full-fledged glasses and VR and AR helmets. Ray Ban Stories in this case serves as a transitional gadget.
The concept of Facebook and Ray-Ban collaboration strongly resembles Snapchat — Spectacles glasses released in 2016. Snapchat released the third generation of its glasses, but they failed to attract the attention of the target market. In 2017, the company wrote off the value of unsold inventory by $40 million.
Do you know what they were able to do in Ray Ban and what is really cool? These glasses look like glasses, and it’s hard to recognize a gadget in them. Symmetrical cameras on the frame look like a design element, and that’s all. The LED warning that you are shooting something is not very bright, and you do not pay attention to it. ”Almost no one pays attention that you are recording or filming something. People are not used to the fact that ordinary glasses can have cameras (the same Google Glass looked different, and many have heard about them). The main thing is to learn how to hold your head properly, otherwise you get a picture that dances after your gaze,” – says one of the users of this device.
Would you try such glasses for $299?
Resources:
https://vr-store.com.ua/ray-ban-stories-detail https://www.ray-ban.com/usa/ray-ban-stories https://www.androidpolice.com/ray-ban-stories-review/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/moorinsights/2022/04/28/ray-ban-stories-review-comfortable-but-limited/?sh=46abc07364ca
