The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are a turning point
Smart glasses have always been a hard sell, but the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are a significant improvement over the original, with better photo, video, and audio quality. They look good, can livestream, and are basically a great alternative to sticking a GoPro on your head. But although we live in the era of content creators, privacy remains an open question.
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00:00 The problem with mirror selfies is that there's always phones in them.
00:03 Sike! It's 2023 and we've got smart glasses.
00:08 Smart glasses didn't disappear when Google Glass crashed and burned 10 years ago.
00:16 We've also seen a lot of other attempts from companies big and small,
00:20 but not a single one has ever made it to the mainstream in the way that smartwatches,
00:24 phones or tablets have.
00:26 I've tried a ton of different smart glasses,
00:28 and for each I've had a hard time imagining the average person wanting a pair.
00:32 That's not the case for the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
00:35 I could very clearly picture who would want a pair of these,
00:38 because I've had multiple people in my life tell me that they plan on buying one.
00:42 And that has never happened.
00:45 It makes me think that we've hit a turning point with consumer smart glasses,
00:48 so let's get right into it.
00:50 Ha ha!
00:52 See? It's recording.
00:53 [laughs]
00:55 In many ways, these glasses are what the stories should have been.
01:03 Instead of one mic, we now have five.
01:05 The audio is also improved with less leakage, better bass and support for spatial audio.
01:11 The battery also lasts longer and the charging case itself is slimmer,
01:15 more stylish and now has an LED indicator light.
01:19 I get about three to four hours of heavy usage
01:22 and closer to a whole workday if I use them more intermittently.
01:26 I ran my battery all the way down to 15% on my commute here.
01:30 It's been less than an hour and I'm all the way back up to 100%.
01:34 It's also been about a week and I haven't needed to charge this case once.
01:39 These are solid updates, but none of it is revolutionary.
01:43 But what I think Meta's done here is nail the execution,
01:47 which in turn addresses some of the key issues that have held smart glasses back.
01:51 The most important thing about Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses is...
01:57 They look good.
02:00 I look good. That's it.
02:02 More so than any other kind of gadget, smart glasses have to look stylish.
02:07 Humanity is vain.
02:08 If eyes are the windows to the soul,
02:11 of course you want your glasses to be a fetching pair of curtains.
02:14 Ray-Ban is great for that because it's an iconic fashion brand
02:17 and wayfarers are about as close to a universally flattering frame as you can get.
02:22 If you don't look good in them, you're not going to wear them.
02:24 The same goes if they're too conspicuous.
02:27 Part of the reason Google Glass didn't work was the futuristic design made you stick out in a bad way.
02:33 These Meta glasses are way more discreet.
02:35 I wore these on my commute, to a wedding,
02:38 in the car, on my walks, on a run.
02:42 Nobody looked at me twice.
02:44 Meta sent me these as a pair of sunglasses,
02:46 but you can also get them in clear and transition lenses,
02:49 which is more useful unless you only plan on using these while you're outside.
02:54 If you need a prescription, you can get them through Ray-Ban,
02:56 but they're limited to -6 to +4 prescriptions.
03:00 If you have worse eyesight, like me,
03:03 you're probably going to have to wear them with contacts or take them to your local optometrist.
03:07 But like I said, you have many options.
03:10 And while it's pricey, it's about what you can expect to pay for a pair of nice Ray-Bans.
03:15 Unless you go to Korea.
03:16 That's my family's hack.
03:18 We get all of our glasses in Korea.
03:20 So much cheaper.
03:21 Even with the plane flight.
03:23 Okay, I'm gonna put these back up because I'm not gonna wear these.
03:28 I'm indoors.
03:28 I look like a jabroni.
03:30 But anyway, another big problem with smart glasses has been timing.
03:34 Meta is not reinventing the wheel here.
03:37 And I think a lot of that is that Meta's glasses are coming at a time
03:40 when the technology is finally advanced enough to deliver a good overall experience.
03:45 But don't take my word for it.
03:47 I'm going to throw it over to our resident camera and headphone expert,
03:50 Becca, to talk about what it's like to use these to create and consume content.
03:55 Becca's section!
03:56 What up?
03:57 Good to see you, bud.
03:58 So when I first got the Ray-Ban MetaSmart glasses,
04:01 which is a bad name, but pretty decent product,
04:04 I thought of them as a camera that happened to be mounted on glasses.
04:07 But the more I used them, the more I realized that they were actually
04:10 a pretty decent alternative to Bluetooth headphones that just so happened to have a camera.
04:14 I'm Becca.
04:15 Let's talk about it.
04:16 Hi, bee.
04:17 Any depth of field to these bad boys?
04:22 Oh, tiny lens, tiny sensor.
04:26 I'm gonna say maybe not.
04:27 An open ear design for headphones is almost always going to have less bass presence.
04:31 And that is certainly true here, but in almost every other way,
04:35 these make great wireless speakers.
04:37 It's been a while, but let's do a mic test.
04:40 Of course, we are starting with the GOAT, the wired Apple headphone that now comes in USB-C.
04:46 I mean, this is the gold standard of mics.
04:48 It's right by your mouth.
04:49 And I'm so excited to hear how mics that are mounted by your nose sound.
04:54 Let's get right to it.
04:55 Okay, Ray-Ban MetaSmart glasses.
04:57 They have five mics in them, including, I think it's two mics,
05:00 right here on the nose bridge, which means it is really close to my mouth.
05:04 Everyone I've talked to says I sound great, but do I sound as good as
05:08 the second gen AirPod Pros, baby, which now come in USB-C.
05:12 Let's go.
05:13 I mean, tons of people are still using these on calls,
05:16 but I've also been impressed with this mic.
05:19 These are the Nothing Air 2s.
05:20 They are the earbuds I honestly use the most.
05:23 They do still have Bluetooth dropouts, especially when I'm down in the city,
05:27 but overall, they've been great headphones.
05:29 So how do they compare to these?
05:31 But wait, these sound so good.
05:34 This is incredible.
05:35 I'm going to be wearing these on calls.
05:37 I just love it so much, except for the fact that my M1 MacBook Pro
05:40 only recognizes these as headphones and doesn't recognize the mic.
05:43 So something to fix on the back end there.
05:46 Anyway, back to the rest of the video.
05:49 I'm impressed.
05:50 Outside of the very usable mics,
05:52 the tap controls are some of the most responsive I've used.
05:55 I haven't had a missed touch or delay in the five days that I've been using them.
05:59 And sliding up or down for volume, it's always the answer.
06:02 I also haven't had any problems with Bluetooth connections or dropouts,
06:06 and the glasses pair seamlessly and quickly with my iPhone 12 Pro
06:10 as soon as I take them out of the case.
06:11 All around, I'm impressed.
06:13 So impressed that it has led me to be that person who's wearing sunglasses inside.
06:17 All right, so the camera.
06:18 The very small lens and even smaller sensor provides surprisingly usable footage.
06:23 These are new signs.
06:24 I used to just call this thing the big loop.
06:27 Besides solid color reproduction and mostly crisp details and good light,
06:31 I was the most surprised with the stabilization,
06:33 audio quality, and high and low light balance.
06:35 When we walk, our brain does a lot of work to stabilize our vision.
06:39 So inherently, a camera mounted to our head
06:41 is not going to look nearly as smooth as what we see.
06:44 But Meta has done a decent job of creating footage that doesn't look like a bobbing mess.
06:49 There is, of course, some bob and some sway,
06:51 and you can see the work the system is putting into stabilizing the image in the small details.
06:55 But for the most part, and especially on a small screen such as a phone,
06:59 this footage is not nauseating.
07:01 Welcome back.
07:02 Another feature that sells the POV perspective
07:05 is the glasses' ability to record using its five mics,
07:09 which then can create spatial audio.
07:11 You'll want to wear headphones for this,
07:12 but pay attention to where people's voices are coming from
07:14 as my family tries to decide which side of the aisle to sit on at a wedding.
07:18 Do they actually do that anymore?
07:19 That's not like we're any in trouble.
07:25 -Yeah.
07:25 There's no chairs over there.
07:27 And lastly, the camera transitions smoothly from light to dark situations.
07:31 When walking into a store, for example,
07:33 footage seamlessly maintains proper exposure without notice,
07:36 much like our eyes do.
07:38 So for a camera that films from an eye's perspective,
07:40 this is all great news.
07:41 The problem is it's not quite your eye's perspective,
07:44 and I've had a lot of trouble framing for this lens.
07:47 I never really knew where the center of the frame was,
07:49 which led to my hand either being not in frame or not centered,
07:54 and then my hat, which sometimes made its way into the top of the frame,
07:57 was also never centered,
07:58 which just kind of drives me nuts.
07:59 And a live view from the native app,
08:01 I think, would help a little bit with learning the framing.
08:04 But for now, opening Instagram and previewing from the live stream view is doing the trick.
08:08 So on paper, these glasses read as a decent camera in the form of sunglasses.
08:13 But in practice, the framing difficulties led me to just
08:16 take my phone out and get the shot I wanted more often than not.
08:19 And I found myself wearing them
08:21 because they were a solid set of Bluetooth speakers instead.
08:23 In specific situations where you want both of your hands in the frame,
08:26 and you're really going for that POV angle,
08:28 think riding a bike, driving a boat,
08:30 I mean, this is exactly the camera I would choose.
08:32 And the great mics are a cherry on top.
08:35 Now, Meta, your next challenge is going to be figuring out
08:38 how to cover this lens when you don't want to use it,
08:41 because being the person with a lens constantly facing out is,
08:46 I don't know, kind of weird feeling.
08:48 Anyway, back to you, V.
08:49 I cosign everything Becca just said.
08:52 To that, I'm just going to add that through this process,
08:55 I've learned that I tilt my head a lot
08:57 because so many of my photos came out at Dutch angles
09:01 or with my bangs ruining the shot.
09:03 I also really enjoyed capturing candid videos of my cats.
09:08 Normally, if they see my phone come out,
09:10 they either hide, refuse to look at the camera,
09:13 or they just get really weird about being filmed.
09:15 Which brings me to my second point about timing.
09:19 For better or worse, we're at a point in our culture
09:21 where everybody is filming and documenting their lives all the time.
09:26 And that's kind of normal.
09:28 Google Glass pissed people off.
09:31 Folks felt like they were a gross invasion of privacy
09:34 to the point where the devices got ripped off people's faces
09:37 and were banned from some public places.
09:39 Fast forward 10 years, and I can't even step outside
09:43 without ending up as an extra in someone else's digital memories.
09:47 There are exceptions, but I'll bet thanks to smartphones,
09:50 you're a lot more used to the idea of cameras being everywhere.
09:54 But the thing about smart glasses is that they don't come
09:57 with the same cultural cues as phones.
10:00 Your image of smart glasses is probably shaped by Tony Stark,
10:04 James Bond, or other spies in sci-fi flicks.
10:07 Shout out to Eggsy. I think he would rock these pretty well.
10:11 Meanwhile, if I hold up my phone like this or like this,
10:15 you know what I'm doing.
10:17 If I have these on and I'm doing this,
10:22 you might just think I'm adjusting my glasses
10:24 when really I'm taking a photo.
10:26 The glasses have an LED capture light,
10:29 which is meant to alert folks around you that you're taking a photo or video.
10:33 This time around, Meta says it's added a pulsing pattern to be more obvious,
10:37 but the jury is out on how effective it is.
10:41 Indoors, it can be pretty noticeable, but not always.
10:45 I polled a bunch of co-workers and friends, and it was a mixed bag.
10:49 Outdoors, well, I literally have video of my spouse saying they couldn't see it.
10:55 Whenever I filmed my commutes, however, no one ever did notice.
10:59 The audio cues when you take a photo or video,
11:02 other people might not hear them.
11:05 Like, let's do this here.
11:06 If you hear this now, it's because we're in a quiet studio.
11:12 I've got mics around me.
11:14 On your commute, maybe not.
11:16 There's a lot of loud noise going around.
11:17 In the companion app, Meta has tips about etiquette
11:25 and reminds you to respect people's privacy.
11:27 That's nice, but barring a more obvious LED,
11:32 glassholes are going to use these devices however they please.
11:35 And for the rest of us, it introduces awkward situations.
11:40 For example, I went to a wedding this past weekend.
11:43 That's an event where it makes natural sense to wear something like this.
11:46 But at the same time, did my friend want me to record footage
11:51 when it's not obvious to other guests what I'm doing?
11:54 I ended up asking permission, which was also kind of a funny thing to explain.
11:59 And it was a great experience.
12:01 I got to be present and fully enjoy the moment
12:05 and still give my friend some extra footage of their special day.
12:08 Which, by the way, she was very happy about because they were good quality.
12:12 But I wouldn't have felt the need to ask permission if it was just my phone.
12:18 Is it OK for you to wear these to a concert and film what's going on there?
12:22 What do you do if a person notices you're wearing these glasses
12:24 while you're in a public restroom?
12:26 Was I a creep for filming my commutes without disclosing that to my fellow commuters?
12:31 Are wearable cameras an inherent invasion of privacy?
12:36 Or could they also be a safety measure?
12:39 I had a really interesting conversation with a co-worker who half wanted these
12:43 because if they ever got attacked, well, they could just grab footage as evidence.
12:48 Because while this is the age of creators,
12:50 it's also the age of body cams and using phone footage when you feel threatened.
12:56 So say tomorrow everyone has a pair of these.
12:58 Am I going to be acting different when I see a lot of people wearing sunglasses
13:02 knowing that one of them may be smart in this way?
13:06 The idea freaks me out, but realistically speaking, I'm not sure I'm going to care.
13:12 I mean, that's the nature of turning points, right?
13:13 They bring up all these questions that we don't have answers for.
13:16 And we just won't have those answers until we have the same
13:21 social cultural cues for these as we do for phones.
13:24 Do I think everyone will be sporting a pair of these in two months?
13:29 I doubt it.
13:31 I'm pretty sure this is something that will mostly appeal to content creators,
13:35 techies, and people just tired of strapping GoPros to their heads.
13:40 But before these, all of my cumulative experiences with smart glasses,
13:44 they made me a hardcore skeptic.
13:47 But now I know multiple people who have ordered a pair simply because the tech has improved to
13:52 the point where they think it'll help them either use their phone less or replace their headphones.
13:57 I myself am tempted to swap out these lenses for a pair of prescription transitions.
14:03 And that is something I never would have considered before.
14:07 But I mean, they're high quality.
14:10 They look nice.
14:11 The photos and videos are great.
14:13 And I mean, privacy concerns aside, have you considered how cute my cats are?
14:19 I mean, seriously, look at them.
14:21 Petey and Pablo.
14:22 Those are my cats' names.
14:24 Secret agent man.
14:27 Just like you're just a spy.
14:31 You're just a spy.
14:32 That's all it is.