The new version of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses is about to be launched on the market with the challenge of overcoming the commercial fiasco of its predecessor. And according to what was shown in his presentation this week at Meta Connect, he has signs of achieving it. The objective is to evolve the way in which these devices are used thanks to technical improvements that will allow the carrier to broadcast live streams in good quality, in addition to many other functions that users missed in the first version.
The device will go on sale in mid-October and will have a price of 360 euros, slightly more than the 321 that it cost until now. To justify this small increase, Meta engineers promise to “free you from the limitations of a handheld camera” and “take a photo or record a video from your unique point of view, allowing you to not only relive the moment, but also live it.”
One of the great novelties is the new 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera with which you can take photos and 1080p videos of up to 60 seconds, ensuring that “whether you are enjoying impressive views during an excursion or living your best life in an art exhibition, the evidence of your exploits will be as epic as the real thing.”
There will also be the possibility of interacting with Meta AI, Meta’s chatbot that will serve us hands-free and with options “to awaken your creativity, obtain information and control functions, just by using your voice”, although it is expected that these options will be expand upon release.
Other advances that these new Meta glasses present are an improved sound system, with new speakers that allow a greater maximum volume; weight reduction; water resistance and the Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen1 processor to process videos and photos faster.
The second generation of smart glasses from Meta come to overcome the commercial failure of the Ray-Ban Stories, which went on sale last year and did not take off. Meta believes that they have identified the reasons for this disappointment and have listened to customers to captivate them with this new version.