Meta has announced a new generation of its Ray-Ban smart glasses, featuring significantly improved battery life and the ability to record 3K video, which brings them up to par with the Oakley HSTN smart glasses. The new glasses, technically called the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2, are available to order today and start at $379.
Let’s dig in on battery, which is better on a few fronts. You can use the new Ray-Bans for up to eight hours on a single charge, which is twice the four-hour battery life of the previous generation. The charging case can charge the glasses to 50 percent in 20 minutes — a slight improvement over the 22 minutes to 50 percent for the first generation. The case for the Gen 2 glasses offers an additional 48 hours of battery life, up from 32 hours.
As for the camera, you’ll be able to record 3K at 30fps, 1440p at 30fps, and 1200p at 60fps, all for up to three minutes. Later this fall, Meta will also add the ability to capture hyperlapse and slow-motion videos — a feature coming to all of its AI glasses.
Meta is adding a cool audio-focused feature called “conversation focus” down the line, too, which will use the speakers on the glasses to boost the voice of a person you’re talking with. The company is improving live translation by expanding it to support German and Portuguese.
I tried the Gen 2 glasses at Meta’s Connect event, and there’s not much to say about them at first blush — they’re a solid upgrade on paper, but they’re ultimately still Meta Ray-Ban glasses, so if you’ve used the first generation before, you pretty much get the idea. You’ll be able to buy them in Wayfarer, Skyler, and Headliner styles. The first-generation glasses will still be available, too, starting at $299.