Meta has doubled down on its push to bring smart glasses into the mainstream, announcing the first smart Ray-Bans with an augmented reality display.
The product was unveiled at the company’s conference, Meta Connect, alongside two other pairs of artificial intelligence (AI) smart glasses. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the Meta Ray-Ban Display, the second generation of its Ray-Ban Meta glasses and the Oakley Meta Vanguard.
Like the original Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses, the Meta Ray-Ban Display have a camera, speakers and microphone, and look similar to Ray-Ban Wayfarers. But they also include a small colour display projected on to the inside of the right lens and slightly off-centre to avoid blocking vision.
It shows text, images and live video calls, and is large enough to watch a video. It is not visible from the outside of the glasses, and disappears after a few seconds when not in use.
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Meta has also included a new interface, using muscle movements picked up by the new wrist-worn Neural Band bundled with the glasses. Describing it as a “huge scientific breakthrough”, Mr Zuckerberg said the new band would allow wearers to silently control the glasses with muscle movements, in line with the company’s assertion that technology needs to “get out of the way”.
“Glasses are the ideal form factor for personal superintelligence,” Mr Zuckerberg told attendees.
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“They let you stay present in the moment while getting access to all these AI capabilities that make you smarter, help you communicate better, improve your memory, improve your senses and more. Glasses are the only form factor where you can let an AI see what you see, hear what you hear, talk to you throughout the day and very soon generate whatever AI you need in real time.”
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The glasses can be used to interact with messaging apps on your phone, such as WhatsApp and Messenger, and can make video calls via a bluetooth connection to your phone. The display can also be used to provide turn-by-turn walking directions or as a viewfinder for photographs taken with the built-in camera.
The glasses are set to launch at the end of September in the US, with the UK, France, Italy and Canada getting the technology early next year.
The display-free Oakley Meta Vanguard are aimed at sports users, with a wraparound design, a camera integrated in the nose piece and swappable lenses and nosepads.
The company has also signed up Garmin to integrate the glasses with the sports company’s watches and bike computers, linking in with workout statistics. Meta also unveiled the next-generation Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, which offer boosted battery life and a higher resolution video camera.
