As of September 9, 2021, Facebook has made official sales of its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses at a price of $ 299. If you were expecting glasses that would project lightning and thunder on your glasses and allow you to see Facebook information for every passerby you look at, you will be disappointed.
Facebook Has Enabled Making Stories With the Help of Glasses
These Facebook glasses were presented as part of the collaboration with a renowned manufacturer of luxury sunglasses and eyeglasses Ray-Ban and have a completely different philosophy.
Instead of bulky and heavy smart glasses, Facebook opted for a modern, unobtrusive look, which therefore sacrifices certain functionalities.
There are two cameras on the front of the glasses frame with which you can take photos and made videos. What is captured or recorded is synchronized with a special application called Facebook View.
The View Application for Ray-Ban Stories
In Facebook View, you can edit clips/photos and share them with other apps on your phone or with friends. Are you on a holiday at the seaside? Edit and share a clip from the beach.
Did you hit a jackpot in a top Playson online casino or some other casino offering high-class game providers? Share and edit an image of winning.
The glasses have a physical button that initiates the recording, and they can also use voice commands such as “Hey Facebook, record a video” (although only in English). We will also mention that for now, the voice command can only be used to initiate a video shooting, not taking photos.
When shooting, the discreet white LED in the corner of the glasses lights up, so that the other people are aware that the glasses are recording.
The main advantage of these glasses is that they look completely normal, and not some kitschy smart glasses with which you look as if you came out of the Star Trek episode from the late 80s.
They Aren’t Too Smart
It is no secret that Ray-Ban Stories is just a stylized version of Snapchat Spectacles, a model introduced five years ago, without much success.
These glasses have normal lenses and do not display anything on them, but they have speakers on both sides, allowing you to use them as headphones via Bluetooth.
The controls are performed via a touch-sensitive part located on the side of the glasses, which controls the volume and music playback.
Given that Facebook wanted their smart glasses not to be like any other ordinary glasses, it is clear that this is a step towards a new generation of glasses that will offer augmented reality for its users, as an additional layer of information for what you see with your eyes.
After all, doctors began to operate remotely, so why the largest social network in the world would not dare to develop augmented reality?
Cameras
The two cameras on the front have a 5 MP sensor and can capture about 30 videos of 30 seconds each or about 500 photos before the internal memory is full. Images are available at a resolution of 2592×1944 pixels, and video at 1184×1184 pixels at 30 fps.
The lights on the inside of the glasses will inform you with a discreet light about the battery status and any operating problems such as overheating or shooting errors.
About 6 Hours of Autonomy and a Charger in the Holster
With one charge, Facebook claims that the glasses are available for about 6 hours of use, and you can also monitor the battery status in the View app when the glasses are connected to your phone.
You will also like that the glasses box has a built-in charger, which can charge the glasses three times when it is at 100 % and is recharged via a USB-C cable, which also comes in the package.
What should also be kept in mind is that the quality of the cameras on the Stories glasses is not even close to that on modern smartphones – they are there for the moments when your hands are busy or you want to shoot something quickly.
The built-in microphone and speakers allow you to use it for calls, although keep in mind that you will hear the sound through the speakers, not the headset, which means that your interlocutor will be heard by everyone in your vicinity.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses is the fact that they are barely a little heavier than regular glasses of this type and do not look much different from regular models. Facebook also emphasizes that it is possible to get them with prescription glasses, which is a really big advantage.
There’s Something for Everyone
The designers really tried not to deviate much from the classic glasses, with a slightly thicker frame and parts that go to the ears and in which the technology is hidden.
Facebook has offered its glasses in three combinations of popular Ray-Ban frames: Wayfarer, Round, and Meteor, with 20 different combinations of styles, colors, sizes, and types of glass.
The first wave of sales includes stores in the US, Canada, UK, Italy, Ireland, and Australia.