Introduction
Smart glasses remain the punchline of the tech world ever since their ill-fated introduction in 2013 by Google Glass. The idea of ambient computing that is seamlessly integrated into the universal wearable item seemed amazing, but the first implementation came too early. Smart glasses were underpowered, had poor battery life, featured a camera that made people uncomfortable, and had absolutely no purpose to justify the sacrifice in usability.
Meta’s collaboration with Ray-Ban has been gradually improving this reputation since the first iteration of glasses appeared three years ago. The initial Ray-Ban Stories were mostly about voice control with the camera included as a bonus. Second generation introduced an improved voice recognition with the integration of Meta AI. The third generation has the upgraded camera, a whole day battery life, and Meta AI voice control that really understands context.
We tried the latest Ray-Ban Meta 3 glasses during two weeks, wearing them as the only pair of glasses and installing prescription lenses in the process. They proved to be better than expected despite several caveats.
Design: Finally, Just Glasses
The single best praise for any smart glasses product is that it looks just like regular glasses and nothing else – the Ray-Ban Meta 3 checks that box. While the ear piece that holds electronic parts is somewhat thicker than a typical temple of regular frames, overall, the glasses look very similar to premium-quality sunglasses.
Ray-Ban Meta 3 is available in the entire Ray-Ban Wayfarer and Headliner frame line-ups with prescription lenses available. Being able to buy glasses with prescription lenses means this product can truly become a part of people’s lives instead of being treated as a prototype.
At 49 grams, the glasses are slightly heavier than usual, but still comfortable to wear for long hours. Wearing the glasses throughout an 11-hour travel day and multiple days out didn’t result in even a moment of discomfort, even though such an activity usually makes glasses fall apart after several minutes.
Nose pads and temple tips of these glasses are made from the same material as used for high-end Ray-Ban glasses – this ensures comfort and reliability.
LED indicator on the glass frame turns on when the camera is recording. This is important for addressing one of the major issues of the predecessor of these glasses: the Google Glass didn’t have an obvious way to determine whether it records someone or not. The lack of that feature resulted in cultural rejection of the product.
Integration with Meta AI
The single biggest improvement compared to Gen 2 is the quality of Meta AI integration. The double tap on the glasses’ frame will activate the AI and let it listen, see through the 12MP camera, and understand context of what the user sees and hears.
This context-based AI is a breakthrough in terms of how the smart glasses can improve our lives. Previously, the integration meant that the AI could listen, understand, and give voice responses. Now, Meta AI can understand images that it sees and even make suggestions based on that information.
For example, you may want to check the menu of a restaurant that you’re going to. After double-tapping the frame, you can ask “what would you recommend if you knew my preferences?” and receive a menu item recommendation according to your order history recorded by Meta AI application on the phone.
Additionally, you may ask Meta AI to identify a plant, translate text in menus, get walking directions (the latter with the help of a paired phone), and remember the last five things mentioned about a person you’re going to see soon. While testing these capabilities, plant identification succeeded in 14 cases out of 17 (including differentiating several very similar plants). The translation was quite accurate for French, Italian, and Spanish. Unfortunately, walking directions feature depends on holding the GPS on your phone: glasses don’t have their own GPS chip. Thus, they rely heavily on the phone navigation application.
Voice commands are answered by using open-air speakers that don’t isolate user from outside environment – another crucial detail making these glasses socially acceptable.
Camera Quality
The 12MP camera of these glasses is capable of taking pictures and recording 1080p videos that will satisfy users in case of posting it on social media. While these pictures and videos are definitely inferior to smartphone shots in terms of resolution and image processing, they will still be quite nice for fast sharing of life stories.
The wide-angle camera records much of the scene in front of you compared to the first-generation glasses. Also, the auto-exposure and white balance were improved drastically: the issue of extreme overexposure in transition from indoor to outdoor environments was addressed.
The first-person perspective provided by the camera is something that smartphones are unable to provide in a natural way. That is why these glasses may be a good tool for creating interesting stories for social media when you are traveling, spending time with family, playing sports, and so on.
Recording video calls using Instagram and Facebook messenger with these glasses is possible but limited to daytime conditions. As expected, the lack of light in the evening will affect the image quality negatively.
These glasses are not an adequate replacement for a web-camera if you need to conduct professional video calls, but the call quality with the use of glasses is good enough for regular conversations.
Battery Life and Charging
According to the manufacturer, these glasses can work for six hours actively with AI features turned on. Our test results put the working time between five and seven hours depending on the workload: heavy usage led to lower values while light tasks were accompanied by longer usage time.
As for the charger, it can fully charge these glasses twice – it means that a full day of using the glasses is realistic without wall access to electricity. Six hours of battery life put this product among the devices that have gained consumer acceptance, similarly to true wireless earbuds.
Charge of these glasses lasts approximately 75 minutes with a USB-C connection when using the glasses charger. Additionally, you can charge these glasses by plugging a phone charger cable directly into the glasses for about 15 minutes. It results in up to 90 minutes of battery life. Finally, charging case also needs to be charged: it is done via USB-C, and it takes up to 90 minutes.
Conclusion
Ray-Ban Meta 3 glasses are finally the kind of smart glasses that we needed for so many years. Good camera, useful AI, all-day battery, and elegant design make them glasses you will actually want to wear.
These glasses start at $299 and go up to $379 depending on the chosen frame style and prescription lenses. The cost is relatively affordable for premium glasses, especially if you consider integration with AI.
