Utilizing Ray-Ban renowned Wayfarer styles, Ray-Ban and Facebook were able to produce a pair of smart glasses that upholds style while also being able to capture daily moments.
THE biggest social network platform and one of the leading brands of optics in the world collaborated with a futuristic product that promises innovation that is never seen before.
Facebook and Ray-Ban, a brand of the mega Italian-French optics firm EssilorLuxottica, released today a revolutionary pair of glasses named RayBan Stories.
Utilizing Ray-Ban renowned Wayfarer styles, the two companies were able to produce a pair of smart glasses that upholds style while also being able to capture daily moments.
Ray-Ban Stories will be available in the brand's Round and Meteor frames, five different colors, and your typical array of lenses: clear, sun, prescription, transition and polarized.
They are similar in some ways to early iterations of Snapchat Spectacles first released in 2016 but with a more stylish aesthetic that looks right in line with other Ray-Ban glasses.
The glasses have two front-facing cameras, each at 5 megapixels. Users can take a photo either with a touch gesture or with a "Hey Facebook" voice command.
So people in the room can tell that pictures or video are being taken, a white LED on the front of the frames will light up. Videos can be as long as 30 seconds.
Photos and videos taken with the glasses are sent to a new smartphone app called Facebook View, which offers essential editing and sharing capabilities.
In addition to photo and video capture, the glasses allow you to take calls or listen to music and podcasts or with built-in speakers and microphones.
Privacy remains a concern with all smart glasses, though. The Ray-Ban Stories have a bright LED that lights up when you're taking photos and video, but it is not impossible that people would see this as an issue with the subtle camera placement.
We're all used to people capturing everything with their smartphones these days, but doing so still requires more effort than tapping your glasses or issuing a voice command to an all-seeing social network.
“Ray-Ban Stories is designed to help people live in the moment and stay connected to the people they are with and the people they wish they were with,” said Andrew Bosworth, Vice President of Facebook Reality Labs.
“EssilorLuxottica has been nothing short of stellar in this partnership and through their commitment to excellence we were able to deliver on both style and substance in a way that will redefine the expectations of smart glasses.”
Retailing for $299 USD (P14,880), Ray-Ban Stories are available now at select Ray-Ban stores and on Ray-Ban’s website.
Tags: #smartglasses, #Facebook, #RayBan, #builtincameras