SNAPCHAT UPGRADES ITS SPECS
Undeterred by its previous failures, the social media giant is making another foray into the tricky world of wearable tech
UNDETERRED by the somewhat lukewarm response to its first efforts at making photographic headwear, Snapchat is at it once again.
This week Spectacles 2.0 went on sale. You likely didn’t see many people wearing Spectacles 1.0, because by all accounts they didn’t actually sell very many.
You might not even know what they are. They are sunglasses with a camera built in. Which, on the face of it sounds faintly ridiculous, given that we are all carrying around perfectly decent cameras in our smartphones.
But Snapchat’s shtick is all about capturing life in the moment, so it makes perfect sense – you don’t even need to take your camera out of your pocket to snap your life.
Spectacles could capture video with a tap of a button on the side of the frames. You could transfer these videos to the Snapchat app on your phone to share what you’ve seen.
The new iteration of the Spectacles takes that to a new level, because while the first version only captured video, the new one can do stills as well. It was, apparently, the most-requested feature by users of version one. Quality is enhanced, too.
Now, there are some amongst us who might have some reservations about a pair of glasses that sports a camera. Especially a video camera.
Imagine how that might go down in certain confined spaces. That is part of the reason, I reckon, why Google Glass didn’t quite take off – imagine what you’d do if someone wandered into a pub toilet with a pair of those on while you were, ahem, about your business (maybe more of a problem if you’re a man, but you get my drift).
But Snapchat has figured out an antidote for that – Spectacles are only available as sunglasses with darkened lenses.
And unless you’re Jim Morrison you won’t be wearing your sunglasses inside, will you?
Now this doesn’t mean there isn’t something potentially a bit creepy about sporting a partially-concealed camera in your specs, but it does mean that you’re more likely to be spotted if you’re up to no good.
And besides, Spectacles don’t even look like normal sunglasses, either – you’d have a hard time hiding the fact that you’re wearing a camera on your face.
Anyway, the Spectacles are clearly designed to be worn outdoors, in the sun. And there’s more – the 2.0 version is also water resistant. Which means you can wear them to the beach, too.
They’re also a lot lighter, and the mechanism used to transfer video and stills to your phone for sharing has also been updated to be faster if not entirely friction free.
Snapchat has been busy this week with software updates to its app, too. You can now play augmented reality games with your friends
– and you’ll find them in the same place as you find the lenses (swipe right instead of left).
These games – Snapchat calls them Snappables – are fairly simple. For example, in one you raise your eyebrows as many times as you can to lift an AR bar-bell, then send the results to a friend to see how they do. It’s fun, and a new way to enjoy Snapchat – expect the same thing to appear in Facebook Messenger within a week, or so.
You can buy Spectacles now and they cost £149.99. Visit spectacles. com for more information.