The company has created its first “smart glasses”, with a pair of cameras to take photos and videos, a microphone and speaker to listen to podcasts, and a voice assistant to let you do the whole thing hands-free. Ray-Ban Stories essentially mix the functionality of earbuds like Apple’s AirPods with sunglasses that can capture photos. It’s not clear whether such a product will find a large market, given that the photos taken on smartphones are far superior and many phone users already have earbuds. They are also much pricier than regular Ray-Ban Wayfarers, which typically cost $100 to $200. Snapchat parent Snap Inc. first released Spectacles in 2016 with a built-in camera for shooting video.
Basilico was leading Luxottica’s own smart glasses efforts at the time and knew the eyewear giant needed to partner with a tech company to build them. I expected the speakers on both sides of the frame to be soft and hollow, but they were surprisingly loud and full. I can see the audio playback over Bluetooth coming in handy for taking phone calls or maybe listening to podcasts, but I’d prefer to use proper headphones for listening to music. The audio doesn’t sound specifically targeted at the wearer’s ears, making it easy to overhear when you’re standing next to someone wearing the glasses.
The arms on the Ray-Ban Stories glasses are slightly wider than a normal pair, but they don’t look geeky. (They also don’t have a waveguide, or a microprojector for display ray ban caravan optics, since they’re not powering AR overlays). Packed into the arms are a power button, a capture button, a three-microphone array, two tiny speakers, and a touch panel.
The Clubmaster has a browline frame and went on to become the third best selling sunglasses style of the 1980s, behind the Wayfarer and Aviator. That’s because tucked into the stems of the glasses are also discreet speakers, which mean that you can listen to music without anyone even realising. They’ll play music into your ears – but also allow you to take calls, all without needing to pluck your phone out of your pocket or stop what you’re doing. In many ways, Ray-Ban Stories look just like any other of the brand’s glasses. They have the same classy and timeless design, made with the same kind of attention to detail, and – perhaps most importantly of all for a pair of glasses – shield you from the sun and make sure your vision is crystal clear.
However, speakers on both sides of the frame can play sound from your phone over Bluetooth, allowing you to take a call or listen to a podcast without pulling your phone out. A touchpad built into the side of the frame lets you change the volume or play and pause what you’re hearing. The Ray-Ban Stories in the iconic Wayfarer style — those chunky ’50s-era frames that still look fashionable today — weigh just five grams more than the standard version.
To date, Facebook hasn’t had a portable consumer hardware device in the market that works with a mobile phone and back-end software, and it’s clear the company is new at this. It lists only five “responsibility” rules for people who purchase the glasses. Believing that people will actually comply with these rules is either naïve or very optimistic. With Ray-Ban Stories, we can’t always know who is recording, when or where they are doing it, or what will happen to the data they collect. A small light indicates that the glasses are recording, but that isn’t visible from far away.
For example, to take a picture or video, users have to either use a voice command or push a button on the side of the glasses. A white LED light on the front indicates that a picture ray ban caravan or recording is in progress. Give your patients the style they want and the vision they deserve with Ray-Ban’s enhanced style features and Essilor’s proven lens brands.
A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily. The glasses charge in their case, which is slightly bigger than a normal sunglasses case but not by that much. They can last for about 6 hours of moderate use before needing to be recharged.