- 7 weeks ago
Testing Meta's new (not Augmented Reality) Ray-Ban Display Smart Glasses
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TechTranscript
00:00I have just been hands-on with Meta's new $799 Ray-Ban display smart glasses.
00:04So, they have a display, they have this whole new transparent interface,
00:08and I'm going to level with you.
00:09This is the first time I've ever been convinced by a tech product designed for your face.
00:14There's a few things that aren't there,
00:16but I was just surprised that this already can start to make you see
00:19how smart glasses can do a lot of the things that your phone can do, but better.
00:23So, you could think of these like a three-part product.
00:26First are the glasses, which are basically a more advanced version of the normal Ray-Ban Meta's.
00:31So, they have the same basic hardware, like the camera,
00:33which can now record in two and a half times the resolution,
00:35like the two speakers, one for each ear, and no less than five microphones,
00:40but then also with some key additions.
00:42Like, you now get transition lenses by default to automatically tint like sunglasses when you're outside
00:47and then untint when you're inside.
00:49There's a bigger battery that they've custom designed to fill every millimeter of the inside of these arms
00:54to keep the last key thing, this new display, powered.
00:57So, this display, it's like a projected image that you see slightly to the side of your right eye.
01:03It was impossible to record, so I'm trying to recreate this for you, but it looks like this.
01:08And I want to make a very important distinction.
01:10This is not augmented reality.
01:12This display is not tracked to your surroundings.
01:14It's just meant to be this small glanceable window in like a fixed position.
01:18And there's a few things that I found immediately surprising about these display glasses.
01:22One, the storage case is absolutely sick.
01:25It feels super premium and can convert itself between glasses storage mode and then flat pack,
01:30so you can fit it into a pocket.
01:31Two, is how insanely bright this inner display is.
01:34It's brighter than any smartphone screen I've used.
01:37Three, is how because the display is achieved by using a sort of indirect projection,
01:41it means that even at full brightness, no one else can see what you're seeing.
01:45Like, my screen is on right now, and you cannot tell, which I just think is wild.
01:50That's like the main red flag with having tech that's transparent already being fixed
01:56in like the Gen 1 product.
01:58Then 4 is how damn comfortable the thing is, considering all the tech that's going on inside.
02:03It is a little chunkier than a normal pair of Ray-Ban metas.
02:05You can tell the difference.
02:07But at the same time, this is no VR headset.
02:09It weighs 69 grams, which, well, very nice.
02:13But it's also pretty mind-blowing, considering that a normal pair of Ray-Bans,
02:18you know, the ones that do absolutely nothing apart from give shade, is like 45.
02:23And it's all paired with these overextension hinges that mean they have some give when you're putting them on.
02:28I was wearing these for an hour and a half straight, and I forgot.
02:32Okay, so that's the glasses.
02:33The second part to this product is how you control those glasses.
02:36Now, you can still use the touchpad on the arms,
02:38and there is still a capture button to quickly take photos and videos,
02:42just like on the normal Ray-Ban metas.
02:43But it's this new neural band that's designed to be the primary controller for the display glasses.
02:49And it's really freaking good.
02:50So you wear it on your wrist.
02:51It's kind of like a watch.
02:52It's comfy, it's light, but it's not a watch.
02:55It's actually measuring the electrical impulses from the muscles in your wrist
02:59so that you can use hand gestures to control the thing.
03:02I guess they kind of had to create something like this
03:04because no one's going to want to carry around a controller for an everyday use kind of product.
03:08The thing I was just so surprised by when using this is both
03:11how mindless those gestures started to feel about an hour in.
03:15I'd say once I got used to it, it was 97% of the time doing exactly what I wanted it to
03:21without me even really needing to think about it.
03:24But equally, how in the entire time I was wearing the thing,
03:27I hadn't once accidentally triggered something I didn't want to.
03:30Those are two very difficult things to try and achieve at the same time.
03:34Because if you think about it, the more natural that you make something feel,
03:37the more likely it is that you're going to do that thing naturally
03:40and then confuse your old neural band.
03:42Now, this obviously doesn't have the insane eye-tracking element of the Apple Vision Pro,
03:47but the way that the hand controls work does remind me a lot of it.
03:50You'll double tap like this to turn the screen on
03:53because it does go off after 20 seconds of inactivity.
03:56There's lots of pinching, kind of like this.
03:58You can navigate using like an imaginary joystick,
04:01basically sliding over your fist.
04:03And you can adjust volume by grabbing and then rotating.
04:06And you can do that in any menu.
04:07And the big upside compared to the Vision Pro
04:10is because this isn't relying on cameras to see those gestures,
04:14you can do them anywhere.
04:15And that leaves us with the final piece of the puzzle,
04:17the smartphone and the software.
04:19So Meta isn't exactly making it a secret that they think
04:22this is the type of device that will replace the phone someday.
04:25But that day is not today.
04:27As of right now, I would say about 50% of the things the glasses can do
04:32are in some way reliant on your phone.
04:35So what does it do?
04:37When you turn it on, the first thing you see is the home screen.
04:39It shows you upcoming events, notifications, shows you the time.
04:42So after 30 minutes or so,
04:44I started to realize that I didn't need to do this anymore.
04:47And it's from there that you swipe to the side
04:48and you can see all your apps.
04:50And you kind of realize that it's not a super slick UI.
04:53Like it doesn't feel cheap, but it's also not a 60 frame per second,
04:57super well animated smartphone quality interface.
05:00But also more importantly, that there isn't an app store.
05:02This is a new type of product.
05:03So the app selection is tiny.
05:05All topped off with the fact that pretty much everything that you can do on this
05:08is like the Meta version of that thing.
05:12So when you use navigation, it's Meta's Maps, not Google.
05:15For anything AI, it's Meta AI, not ChatGPT.
05:18That said, pretty much everything that I tried on these glasses
05:21did feel surprisingly non-gimmicky and actually useful.
05:26Like WhatsApp.
05:27This is something that I've never gotten used to using on my watch
05:30or really anything but my phone.
05:32But different ballgame with the glasses.
05:34First of all, this display now means it's pretty easy to read most messages in full
05:38once you've clicked into them.
05:40And you can open links.
05:41So I was catching up with a reel that someone sent me
05:43and it was actually very watchable.
05:46Remember, without lifting a finger.
05:48Then there are four key ways to respond.
05:49You can either send a voice note or dictate.
05:52And the dictation, I guess because you have five microphones strapped to your face,
05:57is phenomenally good.
05:58Like much better than when you try to use a phone.
06:01And definitely better than using a watch.
06:02I was even whispering and it was picking up every word
06:05and placing every bit of grammar in just the right place.
06:08You can choose one of the pre-made responses.
06:10Like, I'm here.
06:11The last one is the most interesting.
06:13Because you can write.
06:15This is in beta right now, but you can literally write on your leg one letter at a time.
06:20Either with your finger or even as if you're holding a pen.
06:23Whichever you prefer.
06:24And it sounds ridiculous, but it works reliably enough that I could actually see
06:30if you're in a meeting and you couldn't talk,
06:32you would still be able to use this to scribble up a quick,
06:35I'll be back at seven or feed cat please from under the table.
06:39Then I tried captions, which was also insane.
06:43So you look at someone and your glasses will use this five microphone array
06:47to know what sound is coming from where
06:49and completely isolate just what the person you're looking at is saying
06:53to be able to give you real-time subtitles.
06:56I tried this with some music on in the background over here.
06:59I tried it with someone else talking next to me on this side
07:02and it managed to completely ignore both of them
07:04and just pick up the one person's speech in front of me.
07:07While being almost instant, like before they've said the next word,
07:11you can see the last one.
07:13But then it also goes up one more level
07:14because the same tech can be used to real-time translate.
07:18Which is, to be honest, slightly awkward
07:20because the translation has more of a delay than captions
07:23and you don't really know where to look when you're just waiting for it.
07:27Like, do you just carry on smiling in silence
07:30with intense direct eye contact
07:32while waiting for the English version of what they've just said
07:36to process and come through to you?
07:41But the translation quality is really high.
07:45And I think it comes down to the same thing.
07:47But unlike your phone, having five microphones on your face
07:50means the device can hear you so clearly
07:52and you quickly get used to not having to specifically enunciate or speak up,
07:57which just makes the conversation flow much more naturally.
08:00While reducing the main issue with real-time live translation
08:03where one slightly misheard word changes the entire meaning of your question
08:07so they give a different answer
08:09and before you know it, you're both lost.
08:11The final couple of apps then are Maps
08:13where being able to see your real-time navigation arrow rotate
08:17as your head rotates is such a no-brainer piece of functionality.
08:20I just have no idea how Meta's Maps is going to be able to at all compete with Google Maps.
08:26There's music, which takes you straight to Spotify,
08:28which, like most things here, is a custom, squarish version of the app you're probably used to.
08:32And the speaker quality is way better than you'd expect
08:35for something that's kind of a side feature of the glasses.
08:38It's just that as soon as you get to about 40% volume,
08:40other people are going to start to be able to hear it.
08:42So it's not nearly as private as your display.
08:45The camera is okay.
08:47It can take 12 megapixel photos and then video at 3K resolution
08:51as well as some slow-mo at 720p.
08:53In terms of specs, I mean, let's be very clear.
08:55This is like a smartphone from eight years ago.
08:58And it does look a little better than it sounds,
09:00but you're not going to be mistaking this for iPhone 17 Pro footage.
09:04And there is still that slight delay when you press capture,
09:06which I have no doubt is going to create the same situation as last gen
09:09where people think the photo is taken.
09:12So they start moving before it actually is.
09:14And then meta AI, which you trigger by doing this.
09:17And then you ask something.
09:19How do I make Indian chai, for example?
09:21And I wouldn't say there's anything mind blowing
09:23about the AI intelligence itself,
09:25but it's having that recipe loaded up in your peripheral vision.
09:28It's being able to ask follow-up questions
09:30and even navigate the whole user interface.
09:32Even if you're washing your hands at the same time,
09:34that's where you start to notice the unique possibilities
09:37of a smart device that is always there versus a smart device that's sometimes there.
09:42Plus it makes you think of what other things could be done here.
09:44Like imagine it could start using this camera in real time to remember things.
09:47So instead of you having to tell your glasses where you've put your keys
09:51so you can ask it again later, it would just know where you've put your keys.
09:54I can't quite believe how close we are to that reality.
09:58All of which to say, I don't actually think that this particular product is going to be
10:02worth buying for most people.
10:03I mean, it's $800.
10:05I think really the Ray-Ban displays are just Meta trying to get something out into the market
10:09before Apple makes a more affordable vision product.
10:12To start normalizing the idea of smart glasses,
10:15but also to make Meta the company that you associate with them.
10:19And I think now this thing is out, it's going to get a lot better very quickly.
10:22Now, maybe you can tell from the amount of videos,
10:24but this might be the busiest few months of my entire life.
10:28We just had the Apple event in California.
10:29I've got a trip to Korea for a actually very cool ultra secret hands-on.
10:34Then I'm going to the US again.
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10:50Netflix doesn't suddenly decide,
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10:56in which every problem seems to be solvable with a piggyback ride.
10:59And it's just so reassuring that if you ever actually need to talk to them,
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