Facebook makes foray into the ‘smart’ glasses arena
$300 pair of specs can take photos, answer calls and play music — but not as well as a phone
Facebook is betting that the future of socializing online will involve high-tech face computers foretold by science fiction. But when it comes to “smart glasses,” the company isn’t quite there yet.
The social media company on Thursday unveiled a $300 pair of specs built in partnership with eyewear company EssilorLuxottica that lets wearers take photos and videos from their perspective. There are no fancy displays or built-in 5G connectivity — just a pair of cameras, a microphone, and some speakers, all wedged into a set of Wayfarer-inspired specs.
Facebook isn’t the only tech company with smart glass ambitions, and many early experiments weren’t successful. Google started selling early versions of its Glass headset in 2013, but it quickly flopped as a product for consumers — now it’s a tool for businesses and software developers. Snap first started selling camera-laden Spectacles in 2016 but it had to write off nearly $40 million in unsold inventory. (In fairness, later models seemed to fare better.) Within the past two years, Bose and Amazon jumped on the bandwagon with glasses of their own, each using built-in speakers to play music and podcasts. By comparison, Facebook’s first crack at consumer-ready smart glasses doesn’t seem all that novel.
I’ve spent the past few days in New York wearing Facebook’s glasses, and I’ve come to realize the most important thing about these might be that they just aren’t too smart.
There’s a pretty good chance you wouldn’t be able to identify these as smart glasses at all if you saw them on the street. People will be able to pay extra for different frame styles and even prescription lenses, but the pair I’ve lived with for the past week mostly just look like a pair of standard Ray-Ban sunglasses.
To Facebook and EssilorLuxottica’s credit, they feel like standard sunglasses, too — the arms are much thicker than usual to fit all the sensors and components inside, but they never felt cumbersome or uncomfortable. Even better, they weigh only a few grams more than the Wayfarers you might already own.
Facebook’s grand idea here is that, by putting a device that shoots photos, captures videos, and plays music right on your face, you get to spend more time living the present and less time fiddling with your phone. Ironically though, these glasses aren’t particularly great at any of those things.
The pair of 5-megapixel cameras next to each lens can snap some decent images in broad daylight, but they pale in comparison to the 12-megapixel photos many common smartphones can capture. And since only the right camera records video — and square video, no less — the vantage point seen in your footage often feels a little off-kilter.
So much for capturing the world as you see it.
Facebook says all that imagery remains encrypted on the glasses until you transfer them to the Facebook View app on your smartphone, where you can edit and export them to your social media platform of choice. Facebook’s software offers you a few options for sprucing up your files, like stitching multiple clips together into neat little “montages,” but the offered tools sometimes feel limiting.
The fastest way to start taking photos or recording video is by reaching up and clicking a button on the right arm of the glasses. And once you start capturing the world in front of you, people around will know it, thanks to a single, bright white light that fires up when you’re recording. According to Facebook, people will be able to see that indicator from up to 25 feet away, which in theory gives them the opportunity to scoot out of your field of view if they want to.
But that assumes a sort of literacy with Facebook’s design that most people won’t have out of the gate. These are, after all, pretty niche gadgets.
And those speakers? They can’t drown the din of a subway car, but they were pleasant enough to keep me distracted during some long walks. They’re also just loud enough to be usable for phone calls,. There’s just one rub: These are open-air speakers, so if you can hear your music or the person on the other end of a phone call, chances are someone else might be able to as well.