After years of murmur , Facebook was all set to formally announce its first brace of “ smart ” sunglass today . Ray - Ban , Facebook ’s partner on this undertaking , evenput up a splashy siteteasing the announcement two days ago . Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg even postedvideoclipssupposedly taken with the gimmick . And then the methamphetamine leaked .
The images wereposted on Twitterby prolific leaker Evan Blass . And they look a helluva lot like Snap ’s Spectacles . Notthe most recent one , but theearlierversionsthatflopped harda few years ago . From the image , it looks like the shabu are name Ray - Ban Stories , and come in three style dubbed Round , Wayfarer , and Meteor . Like Snap ’s Spectacles , there ’s a camera on each hinge and at a coup d’oeil , they look like a regular twain of Ray - Bans . Otherwise , there are lumpy arms — which in all probability house the barrage — and a set of button controls on the right wing . Other than that , it ’s heavy to say if these thing will do anything else besides book video recording .
pic.twitter.com/XJKrM5TyiL
Image:Evan Blass/Twitter
— Evan Blass ( @evleaks)September 9 , 2021
None of this should fare as a surprise . We ’ve known thatthese Methedrine were comingsince 2019 . We also love this pair would n’t have the in advance AR sport you ’d associate with the full term “ smart glasses . ” The caller blatantly told the Verge that the glasseswouldn’t have an AR displaylast year . Ina recent net profit call , Zuckerberg also said the glasses would have Ray - Ban ’s “ iconic figure factor ” and would “ let you do some jolly slap-up thing . ” He also commented that he was looking frontward to “ full augmented reality glasses in the future . ” The main question is whether those “ reasonably neat thing ” include anything other than taking forgetful TV .
Facebook has n’t been shy about its AR and VR dream . Facebook Reality Labs Research , the sectionalization that work on these projects , has publish several inscrutable dives into how the society see how AR will shape our technical hereafter . That includes everything from “ smart audio ” andfacial acknowledgment , tosoft wristbandsto control AR with your mind . Based on the images , however , it ’s probably good to say that these glassful wo n’t be that much dissimilar from the smart glass we ’ve already discover .
TheEcho Frames , Bose Frames , andRazer Anzuare all similar glasses — though they miss the ability to register video . They function more like headphones in that they rent you take calls , listen to euphony , and use your phone ’s digital assistant . It ’s possible the Ray - Ban Stories will also do these things , though we ’ll have to wait for the official particular to know for certain .
Another question is how comfortable people will feel about wear upon sunglasses made by Facebook with cameras built - in . ThePortalgave people the heebie - jeebies . Back in 2014 , a woman in San Francisco was alsoassaulted for wearing Google Glass at a bar . A big reason why that hap ? hoi polloi at the bar were reportedlyupset at the possibility of being memorialise . Combine those two things , and it ’s easy to see why Facebook branding is largely absentminded from the glasses themselves .
We ’ll have to see how the Ray - Ban Stories do . So far peoplehaven’t seemed particularly keenon this eccentric of voguish glasses , and technically , we ’ve been here before with the Snap Spectacles . But who knows ? possibly Facebook ’s figured something out .
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