Meta Ray-Ban Display first impressions: the new smart glasses king? Plus Oakley Meta Vanguard & more

TechRadar

Meta just dropped huge news - three new smart glasses, all available in the coming weeks and months. I had a chance to try the new Meta Ray-Ban display, Oakley Meta Vanguard and the 2nd-generation Ray-Ban Meta at an exclusive hands-on event and let me tell you - smart glasses are not just a fad.

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00:00Meta just dropped some huge news. Three new smart glasses all available in the coming weeks and

00:10months. I had a chance to try the new Meta Ray-Ban display, Oakley Meta Vanguard, and the second

00:15generation Ray-Ban Meta at an exclusive hands-on event. And let me tell you, smart glasses are not

00:20just a fad. Now the biggest news here is the new Meta Ray-Ban display. That's right, these chunky

00:28yet funky frames not only house a camera array and Meta AI assistant like we know and love

00:33from existing Meta smart glasses, but they also feature a small in-lens display. From this

00:38display you can send and receive messages, navigate, follow instructions, and even use AI to generate

00:44images based off of what you can see. And there's plenty more to come still, according to Meta.

00:49The display design ensures less than 2% light leakage to keep your content private, and you

00:54get about 6 hours of mixed-use battery life, plus the 30 hours from the pop-out charging

00:58case. Looks-wise, they're not going to be appearing on any catwalks any time soon, but I actually

01:03quite like the boxy, slightly 1970s look. It's not for everyone, but if you can pull them off,

01:09the functionality is well worth it. Meta got the glasses as thin as they could without sacrificing

01:14the specs, making some internal adjustments like these steel can-covered batteries for thinner

01:18temple arms. In addition to voice control, you can also use one of Meta's new neural bands

01:23to navigate your glasses using gesture. I've tried it, and it's super intuitive and responsive,

01:29with future functionalities already planned like handwriting detection, all from just a

01:32few electrodes on your wrist. The band has 18 hours of battery life, IPX7 water rating,

01:37and, fun fact, was made using the world's smallest knitting machine with the same materials

01:42used on the Mars Rovers. Pretty high-tech stuff. While these aren't quite the culmination of all

01:47of Meta's efforts into its prototype Orion glasses just yet, they are an impressive step towards

01:52the smart glasses of the future. They're pricey at $799 and launching on September 30 in the US.

01:58Release date and pricing are yet to be confirmed for UK and European customers, but it's expected

02:02to be early 2026. If you've been watching our podcasts, you'll know that we've been anticipating

02:10some sporty lenses from Meta too, and they've finally delivered with the Oakley Meta Vanguard

02:14sporty wraparound glasses. With swappable Oakley prism lenses suitable for a wide range of activities,

02:20these stylish sports visors pack a 5-mic array with an ultra-wide 12-megapixel action camera

02:26capable of shooting 3K at 30fps videos or liquid smooth slow-mo at 720p, 120 frames per second.

02:33There's IP67 water and dust resistance to keep them protected through all of your adrenaline pumping

02:38action, and an extended 9 hours mixed-use battery life with an additional 36 hours from the case to boot.

02:44There are some great creative features too, as well as two new filming modes, hyperlapse and slow-mo.

02:48The vanguards can also pair with two of the biggest fitness platforms, Strava and Garmin,

02:53to level up your activity tracking in a move Meta is calling athletic intelligence.

02:58In particular, the Garmin integration is a real highlight for these glasses,

03:01letting you add creative flair to your workouts with auto-capture at certain milestones.

03:05So, say if you're on a run and you hit another mile-distance milestone,

03:09the glasses will capture whatever you see and overlay your stats directly from your Garmin

03:13smartwatch in the video it sends you after your workout. Pretty cool.

03:17At $499 or 599 pounds, these will launch on October 21st and you can buy the swappable lenses separately.

03:27Lastly, but certainly not least, we finally have the second generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses,

03:32which double the battery life to eight hours of mixed use and upgrade to 3K video with the same

03:38iconic designs we know and love. The slow-mo and hyperspeak capture modes I mentioned before with

03:42the Oakley Meta vanguards are also available in second generation Ray-Bans, as well as some great

03:47seasonal colours and frames. It's a soft update, but one people have been desperately waiting for.

03:52The longer battery life and improved video quality have been some of the biggest requests from Ray-Ban

03:57Meta wearers. And if you've been holding off, there's no time like the present. These glasses are

04:01available right now for $379 or £379. So which of Meta's new glasses are you most interested in?

04:07Let us know in the comments below and head to techradar.com in the coming weeks to check out our full reviews.

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