Unveiling Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses
META, the company that re-branded itself from Facebook, is turning a common stereotype into a reality. People who wear glasses are often perceived as smarter than those who do not. But what if their glasses could make them smarter?
That is the vision behind Meta’s latest product — the new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
The glasses combine style and functionality to offer a revolutionary experience for users who want to capture and share their moments with ease and intelligence.
Mark Zuckerberg revealed the new RayBan Meta smart glasses at the 2023 Meta Connect conference in California on September 27, 2023.
The high-tech eyewear — which can capture and share photos, videos and audio — caused a massive buzz on social media.
According to Meta’s website, the glasses are a product of a partnership between Meta and EssilorLuxottica, the world’s largest eyewear manufacturer.
The good news is you can pre-order now on meta.com and ray-ban.com, and they will be available for purchase online and in retail stores starting from October 17 starting at US$299. Before the new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, Meta had launched another product with EssilorLuxottica, the owner of the RayBan brand.
The Ray-Ban Stories, announced in August 2020 and released in September 2021, were smart glasses that could take photos and videos, play music and make calls.
The Ray-Ban Stories offered two 5MP cameras (2592x1944 image resolution, 1184x1184 video resolution (30 fps)), 4GB of storage, two open-air speakers and a three-microphone array. Meta has significantly improved the product as the new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have impressive specs that can enhance your digital experience.
They have two 12MP cameras that can capture high-quality photos and videos with a resolution of 3024x4032 pixels and 1440x1920 pixels, respectively. They have 32GB of storage to store up to 4 000 photos or 250 videos. They have a five-microphone array to record directional audio and support voice commands.
The glasses come with custom-designed speakers that are 50 percent louder than the previous generation, offering immersive sound quality.
Meta also states that the new glasses have improved audio features and cameras, over 150 different custom frame and lens combinations, and are lighter and more comfortable.
Those who love to livestream are not left out. You can livestream from the glasses to Facebook or Instagram and use “Hey Meta” to engage with Meta AI, an advanced conversational assistant, just by using your voice.
Let us talk about the battery life. The new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have a battery life of four hours with mixed use, which means you can enjoy their smart features for a reasonable amount of time before recharging.
However, even if the battery runs out, they will not become useless as regular glasses. They will still function as stylish, high-quality eyewear that can correct your vision and protect your eyes from sunlight and glare.
You can also use the charging case with the glasses to recharge them up to eight times, giving you up to 30 hours of extra battery life.
Apart from the intelligent functions and a battery life of four hours, the glasses have a stylish design in the classic Wayfarer design (standard and large sizes), and a new Headliner style.
Privacy concerns
We can all agree that the glasses are a great innovation, allowing users to capture and share photos, videos and audio with built-in cameras, speakers, microphones and wireless connectivity.
However, these glasses also raise privacy concerns for users and those around them.
Imagine someone taking a photo or a video of you without your consent. The glasses have two small cameras hidden in the corners of the frame, making them hard to be noticed by others. This means users can take photos or videos of anyone or anything without their consent or awareness. This could violate other people’s privacy rights and expectations, especially in sensitive or private situations.
The glasses are connected to Meta’s services and apps, such as Facebook, Instagram and Meta View; therefore, users must log in with their Meta account to use the glasses and share their content.
This also means Meta can collect and store the data from the glasses, such as location, audio, images and videos.
This could expose the users’ personal information and activities to Meta’s data practices and policies, which may not be transparent or secure.
Security concerns
The glasses are vulnerable to cyberattacks and hacking, as they use WiFi and Bluetooth to communicate with other devices and platforms. This means hackers could potentially access the glasses and their data remotely or physically. This could compromise the users’ privacy and security, and the privacy and security of anyone who appears in their content.
Hackers could also use the glasses to spy on the users or manipulate their content.
To sum up, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are a great product that can offer you a lot of fun and convenience, but they also come with some privacy challenges that you need to be aware of and address.
Before you buy and use these glasses, make sure you understand how they work, how they collect and store your data and how they affect the privacy of others.
Follow best practices to protect your privacy and respect the privacy of others by, for instance, adjusting your settings, choosing your content wisely and asking for consent.
By doing so, you can enjoy the benefits of these smart glasses without compromising your privacy or that of others.
John Tseriwa is a tech entrepreneur and a digital transformation advocate focusing on delivering business solutions powered by 4IR technologies. He can be contacted at info@johntseriwa.com or +263773289802