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Facebook’s smart glasses are here: they’re called Ray-Ban Stories, and they’re mostly for sharing photos and videos on Instagram. No augmented reality.
Facebook and Ray-Ban revealed the fruit of their collaboration that was announced a few months ago: they’re called Ray-Ban Stories, and they’re basically Facebook smart glasses. Contrary to what was initially expected from the countless rumors circulating especially in recent weeks, these are not smart augmented reality glasses, but rather “all-social” glasses.
Technically speaking, not much really changes between Ray-Ban Stories and other smart glasses already on the market such as the Huawei Gentle Monster II. The glasses appear to be normal, but have two cameras, two speakers, and integrated microphones that can be controlled either by touch or voice, and have one main purpose: to quickly record short videos to share on Facebook or, better yet, to be used as Instagram Stories. The name, in fact, says a lot about the typical buyer of this product: young, style-conscious and with a great desire to share their lives on social networks. Ray-Ban Stories are probably glasses for him.
Ray-Ban Stories: How They Are Made
At first glance, it’s hard to tell Ray-Ban Stories from an ordinary pair of Ray-Ban glasses. But if you pay attention you’ll notice two 5MP cameras built into the edges of the lenses and two small LEDs that only activate when the glasses are recording to alert those around you. The same cameras can take photos as well as record video.
The first privacy controversy has surfaced, with several people pointing out that just two pieces of tape is enough to turn Ray-Ban Stories into a great spy tool.
There are two ways to activate Ray-Ban Stories: the first is by touching the touch surface at the temples, the second is by saying voice commands. At this time, the Facebook voice assistant on this device only recognizes English commands.
From the same touch surface, gestures can be used to control music playback or manage calls: Ray-Ban Stories, in fact, only work when paired via Bluetooth with a smartphone with the new Facebook View app, available for iOS and Android. The Facebook View application not only manages the glasses, but also decides which social networks to share recorded clips, which cannot be longer than 30 seconds. The first choice is of course the social networks of the Facebook group.
Ray-Ban Stories: How Much They Cost
Ray-Ban Stories are already on the market in the US, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy and the UK. Italy, the only non-English speaking country in the group, is present mainly because Ray-Ban is a brand of the Italian luxury corporation EssilorLuxottica.
Smart glasses are available with three different frame types (Round, Wayfarer and Meteor, in blue, brown, black and green) and with clear or colored lenses (green, brown, navy blue polarized and Transitions). The starting price is 329 euros and availability is almost immediate: buy it today and delivery is scheduled for September 15th.
