Two years ago, Meta and Ray-Ban teamed up for the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses — which were a fun proof of concept but still a bit clunky in execution. But with the new 2023 Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, they’ve successfully graduated from a beta product to a full-on 1.0 version.
Put simply, this is the first pair of smart glasses you might actually want, and, more importantly, might actually use. They’ve successfully replaced my “dumb” pair of Wayfarers, and after a week of testing, it’ll be hard to go back.
Meta has upgraded pretty much everything from the Stories, with the new design being IPX4 water resistant with an ultra-wide 12 MP camera on the front capable of recording 1080p videos. There are also upgraded open-ear speakers and a custom five-microphone array built-in. The glasses are now powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen1 Platform, which gives it plenty of processing power to run the new Meta AI assistant, which is solidly useful. There’s also an ample 32 GB of flash storage built-in (up from a paltry 4 GBs in the Stories)
There are far more looks available this time around, too, with the smart glasses coming in the iconic Wayfarer style, as well as the new, more rounded Headliner design. All told, there are around 150 color, lens and style combos available. Prescription lenses are also an option, so you could use the smart glasses to replace your prescription glasses.
I put a pair of the 2023 Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses through the paces over the past week, basically making them my daily driver pair of sunglasses and (mostly) leaving my AirPods in their case while out for a jog or on the go. The original Stories weren’t bad, but felt a bit heavy and clunky with prolonged wear and use. This new version does not suffer from that problem. They’ve slimmed up the design enough to where the arms are only slightly thicker than a normal pair of Ray-Bans. The additional weight is negligible to the point I never really noticed, even while wearing them for a few hours outside. They pass the first and most important test, by actually serving as a quality pair of shades even without the tech taken into account.
The audio and microphone quality is vastly improved, with music crisp and loud out of the directional speakers and call quality clear from the built-in microphones. It was so good I’d reach for my ear on occasion, looking for my AirPods, only to remember I’m not actually wearing them — the audio is all coming from the glasses. You can control the audio via voice command or by tapping/sliding your finger on the control pad on the outside arm of the glasses. It takes a bit to get used to, but the interaction is thankfully snappy. It feels intuitive enough once you get the hang of it.
Camera quality is also an absolute leap beyond the original version, producing pics good enough you could conceivably mistake them for iPhone photos. You also have a few options for how to use that upgraded 12 MP camera, with the ability to take still photos, 60-second videos and now the capability to live stream to Instagram — a feature that could be a legit game-changer for influencers, would-be influencers and streamers. It’s a handy feature in day-to-day use with the ability to effortlessly snap a pic of your kids playing, record a snippet from a concert from eye-level without being taken out of the moment by pulling out a phone or live stream a walk-through of how to cook your favorite recipe.
Photos and videos are synced to the Meta View app, and you can set it to auto-sync to your photo roll when connected, which was a relatively simple and effortless process once it’s set up.
Using all those features is also easier now thanks to Meta’s AI assistant. You can take pics and videos by voice command by asking “Hey, Meta,” or click the action button on the top of the sunglasses arm. Meta’s AI assistant isn’t as powerful as something like Amazon’s Alexa, but you can see the potential of having an AI assistant strapped to your face. It was able to execute all the commands I needed and answered the basic questions like the weather report and even some trickier outside-the-box questions (i.e., which The Strokes album is the best – it’s Is This It, in case you’re wondering). If Meta keeps iterating on this, it could be a killer feature as it gets smarter — saving you from having to pull out your phone to get info or ask a question the AI can answer. The technology hasn’t reached a point where we can have quality video embedded in regular-looking glasses, so routing those interactions and functionality through audio just makes sense at this point.
The battery lasts around 4 hours of continuous use, though the charging case holds around 8 additional charges, meaning you can technically get close to 36 hours of use (when accounting for recharges in between) from the case. That said, battery life is a limiting factor if you’re on the go for a long day trip or weekend and planning to use these a ton without wanting to swap them out to recharge. But, even when the battery is dead, they’re still a stylish pair of Ray-Bans at least.
Meta and Ray-Ban have even given some special attention and thought to the charging case this time around, with the smart glasses utilizing a USB-C charging case that could easily pass for the classic leather flip case Ray-Ban fans know and love. The only giveaway is the glowing charging ring on the front, but the case is definitely smaller and more stylish than the hard case Stories version of yesteryear.
We’re not to a point where smart glasses are going to revolutionize the way we interact with technology, but Ray-Ban and Meta are truly showing the potential of the platform with a polished product that knows what it wants to do and does it very well. The Ray-Ban Meta collab is useful, easy to use, stylish and cool — which is really all you can ask for from a pair of smart glasses at this point.
Trent Moore is a recovering print journalist, and freelance editor and writer with bylines at lots of places. He likes to find the sweet spot where pop culture crosses over with everything else. Follow him at @trentlmoore on Twitter.