I’ve spent a couple of weeks testing out the new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. I probably got a few strange looks walking around with sunglasses in a cold and wet November, but I didn’t really care. I knew how cool I looked.
What’s so special about these smart glasses? That would be the built-in camera and headphones. They’re like sunglasses out of a Bond film! So, while they look like mere super-stylish sunglasses, they let you take photos, shoot videos, listen to music, and take calls – all without having to lift up your phone.
The LED on the right-hand side of the glasses lights up whenever you take a photo or start shooting a video. Okay, so not quite like a Bond film after all. Apparently, this is to let people will know they’re being filmed, which should help allay some fears about privacy.
The glasses also have a hidden privacy feature – a depth sensor that can tell if you’re trying to cover up the LED to film secretly. You won’t be able to record or take photos until it’s removed. So don’t try it in the first place.
The new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are an update on the 2021 version, and Meta says they’re a serious improvement in almost every way. The sound is 50% louder with more bass, the main camera is sharper, there are more mics on board, and the processor can handle much better picture and video processing.
Introduction over. Let’s open the box.
Unboxing the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses
The packaging folds out to reveal the case with glasses inside. There’s a slot with a quick-start guide and microfiber cloth inside, and you’ll also see a QR code for the Meta View app.
The glasses look amazing - these are Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarers, after all. At first glance they look like classic Wayfarers, but look closer and you’ll see the embedded camera lens. There’s also a small LED, which lights up when you take photos or videos – more on that later.
Setting them up
Set up is easy enough. It’s all done through the Meta View app. I downloaded it, created a Meta account and I was ready for the next step. The onscreen instructions told me to turn on Bluetooth and enable access to nearby devices, then I was instructed to open the case and pull the protective tab from the front of the glasses. This synced the glasses with my smartphone. All in all, it took less than 5 minutes.
I then connected to WhatsApp and Spotify Tap, which lets you play music by tapping the glasses without opening Spotify on your phone. I was good to go.
Quick tip: if you’ve pulled the tab out before you were asked (it’s so tempting), you just need to press and hold a small button on the back of the case until the front button flashes blue. Doing this makes the glasses ready to sync.
Wearing them and taking control
The first thing I noticed when I put the glasses on were how comfortable they are. Even after wearing them for hours on end, they felt absolutely fine. The frames were rigid, but still had enough give to fit the shape of my head.
With my glasses firmly in place, the Meta View app then gave me a quick run-through of the controls. Tap the top of right arm to take a photo, press and hold to shoot a video, tap on the side of the arm to play music. Easy.
You can also take pictures using the built-in voice assistant. Say “Hey Meta” or “Okay Meta” to wake it up, then ask it to take a photo or record a video. The voice control didn’t work for me at first, so I had to do a quick bit of troubleshooting. Here’s how I sorted it:
Go into the Meta view app, tap the ‘settings’ icon in the bottom right.
Tap ‘Voice’.
Make sure the toggle next to ‘Voice’ is turned on.
Tap "Hey Meta" preferences.
Make sure the toggle next to ‘Hey Meta’ and ‘Wake sound’ are turned on.
As soon as I did all that, voice control worked without any issues.
Quality camera, easy-to use app
The glasses have an embedded 12MP camera, which is a real step up from the previous version’s 5MP. It also shoots videos at 1080p resolution – that’s Full HD.
When you’ve captured what you want, the Meta View app makes it easy to import your photos and videos to your phone’s gallery and share them on your favourite social feeds. It suggests quite a few different apps that you can upload content on to, including (of course) Meta’s own platforms – Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Messenger.
Taking photos
To take a photo, simply tap the button on top of the right arm of the glasses. Alternatively, you can go hands-free and use your voice to do both.
I mostly used voice control to take photos and videos when I was out and about, and it was reasonably quick and responsive. It’s not instant though. From waking up the glasses (“Hey Meta”) to taking the shot (“take a photo”) probably takes a second or two. That’s something to bear in mind if you’re taking photos of your pet doing something cute – you might need to think ahead slightly.
Here are a couple of photos I took. Obviously what you’re seeing here could be affected by the quality of device your viewing this article on…
I thought the 12MP camera did a solid job of focusing and capturing detail. It’s not the same quality as photos taken on a premium smartphone, but remember – you need your hands for those things.
It took a little bit of practice for me to frame photos correctly. Because the camera is to the left of your eyes, it doesn’t shoot exactly what you see. So, I found that I needed to turn my head slightly and actually look past whatever I wanted to photograph. That seemed to do the trick.
Shooting videos
The glasses can record up to 60 seconds of Full HD video. Simply give the top of the right arm a long press to start recording.
I was impressed with the quality of footage I recorded. It was nice and sharp, and even when I was walking along the road it looked smooth and stable.
The audio was also impressive. I could hear voices, dog barks, music and other sounds clearly. And when I listened to the video through the glasses, the speakers did a great job of mimicking the direction that the sound was coming from.
The fact that you can record hands-free is a big advantage compared with recording on your phone. It opens up all sorts of creative possibilities… throwing balls for your dog to chase, giving baby their first bath, or thrashing your mates at ping-pong. Think of these glasses as an action cam you have to be gentle with – no diving headers at football, please.
The LED glows while you’re recording, to let anyone in front of you know they’re on camera. And they blink when you get to near the end of your 60-second timeslot, giving you a chance to wrap things up properly.
You can also livestream directly to Facebook or Instagram with a quick tap in the app. I didn’t get a chance to try this out, but I imagine it’s something that budding vloggers will find useful.
Listening to music
With Spotify Tap enabled on the Meta View app, I was ready to start enjoying some music on my smart glasses.
A tap on the side of the glasses is all it takes to play Spotify. It either takes off from the last thing you paused on Spotify, or chooses a recommended track for you. I’m a music control freak, so I found myself cueing up my favourite playlist on Spotify before I donned my glasses. Then I knew exactly what I’d be listening to.
So, how do the glasses sound? Well, because you’re hearing audio coming from above your ears, you don’t get the same immersive effect as proper headphones or earbuds. It’s a much lighter listening experience, and feels like you’re listening to a nearby smart speaker rather than something you’re wearing.
As expected, these glasses don’t produce the same levels of bass that headphones give you. I listened to ‘The Clash/Guns of Brixton’ and the bass line soon got lost amongst everything else going on in the track. The glasses cope much better with mid and high ranges, and ‘Estelle/Strange’ sounded fantastic, with the intimate piano and amazing voice sounding exactly as they should.
There is an upside to this above-ear listening. I could always clearly hear things around me, rather than noise being cancelled out. So, when I was listening to music while out and about I never felt cut off from my surroundings, and was aware of traffic when crossing the road. Some sound does leak out from the glasses though, so other people might hear what you’re listening to.
Making calls
The next thing I did was to make a hands-free call. The glasses now have five built-in mics compared with three on its predecessor, along with improved background noise reduction.
I asked the glasses to call my son on WhatsApp and got through first time. The call wasn’t very long – he’s a teenager, so doesn’t really tell me anything anymore – but the call quality was excellent. I was walking down a busy street with a fair amount of background noise, but even so I could hear every word spoken to me, and my son heard everything I said.
Battery life and charging
The phone case doubles up as a charger. You’ll see a USB Type C slot on the front of the case, and a button that lights up when its being charged.
Charging really is super-fast and easy. Just firmly place the glasses in the case, and they’ll start to charge. Going from 0% to 100% takes about 75 minutes. And if you need to get out the door quicker than that, you can get up to 50% of power in just over 20 minutes.
The glasses last for about 4 hours on a single charge. But don’t worry if you’re out all day – the case holds enough power to charge the glasses eight times over. That’s 36 hours before you need to head for a plug socket.
When I got down to 15% the glasses gave me an audible warning about the low charge and told me to “charge the glasses for full functionality.” I found out that this meant I couldn’t shoot videos when I had less than 15% charge, so I always tried to stay topped up as much as possible.
Our verdict – are they worth it?
So, are the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses worth it? I think so. Just look at them. The ones I tried were in the iconic Wayfarer style - you aren’t going to get any better looking smart glasses than these.
These glasses give you a unique way of capturing memories - and boosting your social profile – all without reaching for your smartphone. The voice assistant is fairly limited right now but still in testing, so it’ll get better. Eventually it’ll act like a proper smart assistant and answer your questions. At the moment, it enables you to go hands-free when you’re taking photos, shooting videos, making calls and playing music.
The 32GB of inbuilt storage can hold about 500 photos and 100 videos. That was more than enough for me, and all it took was a quick sync of the Meta View app to free up all the space again. Plus, with the IPX4 water-resistance rating I didn’t have to worry about getting caught in the rain. Although to be fair, I just took them off when this happened. I’m not confident enough to rock the ‘sunglasses in the rain’ look just yet.
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