The people who buy these glasses will soon be out in public and private spaces, photographing and recording the rest of us, and using Facebook’s new “View” app to sort and upload that content. Confusingly dubbed Ray-Ban Stories, they start at $299 and bring together much of the technology we’ve already seen in smart eyewear. They’ll let you take first-person photos and videos on the go, like Snap’s Spectacles. And, similar to Bose and Amazon’s speaker-equipped glasses, you’ll be able to listen to media, as well as take calls. Wayfarers were designed in 1952 by American optical designer Raymond Stegeman, who worked for Bausch & Lomb, Ray-Ban’s parent company at that time.
Featuring deep rectangular lenses, you’ll get optimal coverage when wearing the Justin. Despite the oversized lenses, a lightweight nylon frame makes this style comfortable to wear all day. Flexible spending accounts , health savings accounts , and out-of-network vision insurance coverage can all be used towards awesome new prescription sunglasses, eyeglasses, and goggles. Ray-Ban is the world’s best selling brand of sunglasses and has been around since 1937. All Ray-Ban items, including Ray-Ban eyewear and Ray-Ban glasses, are authentic and brand new. Himel described how he likes to use them to capture moments of his young children.
The form factor drove a lot of decisions, from speaker architecture to the camera selection. If you like the coverage from wraparound frames, but need something that can take you from the beach to the office, let us introduce you to the RB3498. This frame has a similar design to the Predator clubmaster 2, but in a sleek metal construction. Brushed aluminum temples look elegant and performance isn’t compromised due to the rubberized temple tips. They flex to fit, meaning you will never experience uncomfortable pressure points or the dreaded headache from too-tight sunglasses.
During the 2000s Wayfarer revival, many sunglasses designs inspired by the original Wayfarers were produced by designers unaffiliated with Ray-Ban. Grey Ant’s Grant Krajecki designed a larger, cartoonish version of the glasses “so extreme that are best worn by those with a good sense of humor”. Other Wayfarer-inspired sunglasses included Oliver Peoples’ Hollis, REM Eyewear’s Converse, and various designs in Juicy Couture, Hugo Boss, Kate Spade, Marc Jacobs’s and Kaenon Polarized 2008 lines. Between July and September 2008, retailers began selling frameless Wayfarers.
Our optometrists include industry leaders who provide personalized eye care, innovative treatments, and high-quality vision products. You can speak to them, too, with voice control that’s powered by the Facebook intelligence that is built into these glasses. You can just ask to take a photo, for instance – once again ensuring that you can get on with doing and capturing whatever it is you’re doing, looking up at the world through your glasses rather than down at your phone. They include touch controls on the side, for instance, which mean that you can control your the glasses without requiring a phone or anything else too complicated.
The svelte frames are some of the most low-profile yet available to consumers and will allow users to snap photos and videos with the two onboard 5 MP cameras, listen to music with in-frame speakers and take phone calls. The twin cameras will allow users to add 3D effects to their photos and videos once they upload them to the app. Still, I was surprised by how smooth video footage looked; it reminded me of YouTube professionals like J. It was also nice to have both hands free to capture fleeting moments of play with my daughter. I was less impressed with the Stories’ photo quality, but I suppose it could be useful if you wanted to take a pic without pulling out your phone. You can import your photos and videos from the smart glasses into Facebook View, a new app that lets you quickly edit your media and share it to practically every social media site (yes, even Snapchat!).
These not only provide audible cues for media capture, but let you stream music from your phone into your ears. Playing music through the glasses tends to eat up the battery, though. After one three-hour session using the glasses to take sporadic photos and video, Peter’s battery was still at 70 percent.
The companion View app shows a live readout of the battery when the glasses are paired. My battery drained by about 20 percent during heavy use for an hour. To control the Ray-Ban Stories, you can either invoke the Facebook clubmaster assistant by saying “Hey Facebook” or by tapping the button on the right arm, or swiping on the side touchpad. Personally, I never want to be caught in public talking to Facebook, so I mostly relied on touch controls.
The camera lenses and indicator light on the Ray-Bans are easy to miss. Where Snap’s design team has leaned into the Burning Man aesthetic for its Spectacles, Facebook and Ray-Ban went normcore. If you ignore the fact that they have cameras and wireless connectivity, Ray-Ban Stories are just a pair of Wayfarers. We weighed clubmaster one of the pairs, which measured 49.3 grams—just shy of the stated 49.6 grams cited in the specs, and around 5 grams more than the original Wayfarers they’re modeled after. Crucially, that extra weight is distributed well, and both of us remarked that it was easy to forget you were wearing tech-laden shades.
A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily. The glasses charge in their case, which is slightly bigger than a normal sunglasses case but not by that much. They can last for about 6 hours of moderate use before needing to be recharged.