Like virtual reality headsets and AI voice assistants, smart glasses are something we’ve seen for so long in science fiction that our expectations (and fears) tend to run ahead of the actual experience. The end product usually leaves us a little disappointed and while Facebook-owner Meta’s collaboration with Ray-Ban doesn’t deliver personal video screens and X-ray scanners, the glasses are surprisingly useful. Essentially, they take certain elements of your phone and put them conveniently on your face.
You can take videos or pictures in situations where your hands are full or your phone is a few steps away. Make and receive calls, and you can also listen to music and podcasts on the go, without bothering about earbuds. At some point in the near future, the glasses will also double as a personal assistant as Meta AI (which works with the smart glasses in North America, but not yet in Australia).
Meta AI can access the camera feed to interpret text for you, or answer your questions about landmarks and anything else you can see. A camera near your eyes Most models of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses look completely ordinary, and that’s a genius move. Some people might like to look like they’re wearing a computer on their face (and for them, there are transparent models), but I’d wager the majority want regular-looking glasses, and these come in the well-established Ray-Ban silhouettes of Wayfarer, Headliner or Skyler.
When you buy the glasses, which start at $450 but go up f.
