Facebook’s first foray into the world of smart glasses is here. Confusingly dubbed Ray-Ban Stories, they start at $299 and bring together much of the technology we’ve already seen in smart eyewear. They’ll let you take first-person photos and videos on the go, like Snap’s Spectacles. And, similar to Bose and Amazon’s clubmaster speaker-equipped glasses, you’ll be able to listen to media, as well as take calls. For added peace of mind, photos and videos are encrypted on the smart glasses. The ability to control your settings and content were top concerns for people in user research we conducted on wearable technology and privacy.
Facebook has anticipated some of these criticisms by not including its name on the product and making sure your content is handled privately. But by removing itself as the chief privacy babadook, it’s turned you — the user — into a strolling privacy violation. If the idea of camera sunglasses seems familiar, perhaps that’s because it sounds like Snapchat Spectacles, which launched in 2016. In what I can only imagine is a loving tribute, Facebook has named its camera sunglasses “Stories” after the other signature product that Facebook/Instagram lifted from Snapchat. The company’s hardware division also sells Oculus VR headsets and Portal video-chat devices, and it’s planning to add AR features to Oculus products later this year. If you’re looking for designs that vary from Ray-Ban’s most popular sunglasses, you can look to the Chromance and Ferrari collections.
Its unmistakable Rx sunglasses styles—classic and contemporary—are born out of more than eight decades leading the way with consistent quality and innovative design. Ray-Ban has evolved into a premiere fashion brand that has helped shape American pop culture and beyond. The new glasses, which start at $299 and come in more than 20 styles, face hurdles apart from Silicon Valley’s stop-start history with smart glasses.
The Facebook View app, where the glasses pair with your phone and photos and videos are stored. Ray-Ban and Facebook collaborated over a new pair of smart glasses you can use to take photos and listen to music. Users will be able to control the glasses with a couple physical buttons including a “capture” button to record media and an on-off switch. A touch pad on the right arm of the glasses will allow users to perform functions like swiping to adjust the volume or answering a phone call. An onboard white LED will glow to indicate to the people around the wearer that a video is being recorded.
There is also a small light indicator on the inside part of the frame. The glasses are being launched in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Italy and Australia, and include a charging case similar to the one that houses AirPods. The glasses on their own get about six hours of battery life with moderate use, and they’re not waterproof, according to Facebook. The $299 model has standard frames, while the companies will also offer a $329 polarized model and a $379 version with transition lenses. Also, while the models we were given to test were sunglasses with tinted lenses, Facebook is offering 20 different configurations with three Ray-Ban frame shapes , including clear-lensed versions. Facebook lent me a pair of Ray-Ban Stories with sunglass lenses so I could decide for myself.
Great for being able to wear them without standing out, and most people aren’t likely to think there are cameras built in. As for the glasses’ privacy features, some are directly built into the frames, while others can be customized in the Facebook View app. On the frames themselves, white LED lights above the cameras alert those around you that you’re taking a photo or video. And you ray ban caravan can turn off the cameras and microphones if you want to use the glasses without their smart features. To listen to music or podcasts, as well as take calls, Facebook and Ray-Ban added open-ear micro speakers to the glasses in addition to three microphones. There’s also a touchpad installed on the arms of the frames, allowing you to adjust volume, play or pause audio content and more.