Smart Glasses
When the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses were announced in 2023, I became obsessed with the idea of owning a pair.
The only problem was, I was living in New Zealand at the time, and they were not available to buy there.
But I wouldn't let that stop me. I purchased a pair from the UK website, and got them delivered to my parents house, who then forwarded them on to me in New Zealand.
The next problem, was that you needed the Meta View app installed on your phone to actually use them. The app was "unavailable in your region". Makes sense, they don't sell the glasses here.
Not to worry, I used a VPN, set up a new apple account based in the UK, and managed to download the app onto my phone.
By January 2024 I finally had the glasses, and the app needed to use them! My dream was realised.
Content
Videos I've captured using the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses.
My Review
In my opinion, there's 3 main reasons you'd want a pair of smart glasses.
1. The camera. Having the camera lens in the glasses means you can take photos and film videos completely hands-free. This is super handy when you want to film something but your hands are in use. In some of the videos above, you can see that there's no way I would have been able to get some of the first-person shots I got, of playing crazy golf, or luging down a hill, without the glasses (unless perhaps I had an action camera mounted to my head). Being able to record using voice commands is also very helpful, if you're already mid-action when you want to shoot something.
2. The speakers in the arms of the glasses. I have funny shaped ears, and ear buds tend to always fall out of my ears unless I'm sat completely still. So one of the things I love most about the smart glasses, is I can listen to music and podcasts on the go without having to wear any ear buds or big clunky headphones.
3. The built-in AI chat. At first, I found this feature super novel and cool. You can ask any question you like, and immediately get an answer spoken in your ear, without having to pick up your phone, or type anything. It's felt crazy futuristic. But practically, I rarely used this function. In public, I found myself far too shy to say "Hey Meta..." and then ask a question. I felt like people would be looking at me thinking I was insane. But it's certainly fun to ask silly questions when you're just at home wearing the glasses.
All-in-all, I'm really pleased with my purchase, and have had a lot of fun using the glasses and trying out a new piece of tech which will only get better in future generations. Perhaps one day we'll all be wearing them. And I can be the guy who can say he had the first generation!