{"id":39881,"date":"2025-09-24T02:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T02:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/39881\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T02:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T02:07:08","slug":"meta-ray-ban-display-hands-on-the-best-smart-glasses-ive-ever-tried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/39881\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta Ray-Ban Display hands-on: the best smart glasses I\u2019ve ever tried"},"content":{"rendered":"

I want to preface this hands-on by saying that I\u2019ve been a smart glasses skeptic for many years. In 2019, I even made a two-part<\/a> mini documentary<\/a> with a thesis that consumer smart glasses couldn\u2019t happen without massive societal and technological shifts. Well, color me pink and let me find a shoe to eat. After getting a demo of the $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display, I\u2019m convinced this is the closest we\u2019ve ever gotten to what Google Glass promised over 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

The glasses<\/a> look just like a chunky pair of Ray-Bans. But put them on, pinch your middle finger twice, and a display will appear in front of your right eye, hovering in front of your vision. It\u2019s not augmented reality overlaid on the real world so much as on-demand, all-purpose menu with a handful of apps. You can use it to see text messages, Instagram Reels, maps, or previews of your photos, letting you do all kinds of things without having to pull out your phone. In fact, since it pairs to your phone, it sort of functions like a pop-up extension of it.<\/p>\n

The display shows apps in full color with a 600-by-600-pixel resolution and a 20-degree field of view. It has a whopping 5,000 nits of maximum brightness, yet only 2 percent light leakage, which means it\u2019s nigh impossible for people around you to see that it\u2019s there. Each pair of the Display glasses comes with transition lenses, and the brightness adjusts depending on ambient UV light. Since it\u2019s monocular, the display only appears in the one lens, and while it can be a little distracting, it doesn\u2019t fully obstruct your vision.<\/p>\n

\"Render<\/a><\/p>\n

It was difficult for us to capture our own still photos of what the display looked like for me at the hands-on. This is a decent approximation. Image: Meta<\/p>\n

My colleague Jay Peters was looking at me dead-on while I was reading a text message, and he couldn\u2019t see a trace of it. I stepped outside into a sunny area, and while the display was hard to see at first, it came into clearer focus as the transition lenses took effect. (Though even 5,000 nits can\u2019t compete with the sun if you stare directly at it. Side note: don\u2019t stare directly at the sun.)<\/p>\n

When you are looking at the screen, your conversation partner may not see what you\u2019re looking at but they\u2019ll notice you\u2019re a little distracted. Jay noticed this immediately in my demo, and after, we joked: forget phones at the dinner table \u2014 now you\u2019ve got to worry if your spouse, date, or friend is secretly watching videos or texting while you\u2019re telling them important news.<\/p>\n

The glasses are bolder than the Ray-Ban Metas. The frames are thicker, the edges are more rounded, and the overall Wayfarer shape is more square. The nose bridge, I\u2019m told, is designed to have a universal fit. As someone with a low nose bridge, I appreciated that it didn\u2019t slip down my face. Also, good news if you have a wide face: there are now overextension hinges so the temple arms can bend slightly outward for a more comfortable fit. Battery life lasts around six hours with \u201cmixed use,\u201d and you get 30 hours total with the new collapsible charging case. And at 69 grams, it\u2019s still relatively light.<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m tracing letters into my leg to write a text message. You can hold your arm by your side to control the device with the Neural Band. Photo by Colt Bradley \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Another big new addition is the Meta Neural Band. We\u2019ve seen this before with last year\u2019s Orion prototype, but using it was eye-opening. The band utilizes something called electromyography to read the signals from your muscles so that you can control the display with gestures. It was a lot to take in at first, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. And the coolest part? You don\u2019t have to hold out your arm as with a headset like the Apple Vision Pro. You can just hold your hand at your side \u2014 behind your back, under a table, anywhere really \u2014 and perform all the gestures discreetly.<\/p>\n

Pinching once with your index finger selects an item in the menu, while the same action with the middle finger acts as a back button. Pinching your middle finger twice summons and dismisses the display. You can also make a sideways fist and swipe your thumb left, right, up, and down to scroll through options. Pinching while rotating your hand will raise or lower the volume while listening to music, as well as zoom in when you\u2019re taking photos.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Here are some examples of how you can\u2019t see the display, but you can tell my attention is elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Adding a display plus this wristband suddenly unlocks a range of hands-free capabilities. On the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, you have to pull up Instagram Live on your phone if you want to see what your photos or videos look like. With the Display glasses, you have a built-in preview window. My smart glasses photos will no longer be plagued by my bangs or my infernal tendency to tilt my head. You can also take video calls directly to your eyeballs in WhatsApp. You\u2019ll be able to see whoever\u2019s calling, and they\u2019ll be able to see your point of view, too. I tried a video call with Jay. While it was incredibly cool to see his face floating in my vision, I couldn\u2019t help feeling like a spy about to steal some corporate secrets in a high-stakes heist.<\/p>\n

Messaging is another obvious plus. You can read, view photos and Instagram Reels, and reply to messages without ever having to take out your phone. (The Reels part is a little annoying; my friends send me TikToks.) And later this year, Meta is planning on introducing a handwriting feature where you can trace letters on any surface and discreetly reply to messages without having to dictate things aloud. I got to try it, and it worked shockingly well. There\u2019s also predictive text, so you don\u2019t even have to \u201cwrite\u201d that much.<\/p>\n

Meta Ray-Ban Display and Neural Band specs<\/p>\n

Display: 600 x 600 pixels with 20-degree field of view, 90Hz refresh rate (30Hz for content), and 30\u20135,000 nits of brightnessBattery life: 6 hours of mixed use for glasses, 18 hours for Neural Band. The glasses case holds 4 extra charges.Lenses: Transition lenses that support prescriptions from -4.00 to +4.00Camera: 12MP with 3x zoom; 3024 x 4032 pixel photo resolution with 1080p at 30fps for videoWeight: 69gWater resistance: IPX4 for glasses, IPX7 for Neural BandStorage: 32GB of storage, capable of storing up to 1,000 photos and 100 30-second videos.<\/p>\n

A live caption demo was impressive. When you\u2019re speaking to someone, the screen can display text or translations for live speech right in your line of sight. The wildest thing, however, is that thanks to the multidirectional microphone array, the glasses can tell who you\u2019re looking at and will only show captions for that person. I got my demo while multiple people were speaking at once, and cross-talk was never an issue. When switching who I looked at, there was nearly zero latency in the captions catching up. The original Ray-Ban Metas were a game-changer for visually impaired people<\/a>, and I suspect these glasses will be the same for people who are hard of hearing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m excited by turn-by-turn walking directions. While my hometown of New York City has always had a grid system, I somehow always manage to get turned around. I hate looking down at my phone, trying to figure out where I\u2019m going. With the Display glasses, I could look up directions to the nearest Jack in the Box and then orient myself on a map as I would on a phone. While I didn\u2019t get to go to said hamburger joint, I was told you can dismiss the screen and still get turn-by-turn directions when you need them all while staying present in your surroundings.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t see that I\u2019m video calling my colleague Jay Peters, though you can see what I see on the laptop on the table behind me. Photo by Colt Bradley \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Meta\u2019s Live AI features also get a boost. I used it to give myself a mini self-guided museum tour by taking a picture of an Andy Warhol Campbell\u2019s soup can painting. Meta AI offered a short description, while the display showed info cards with further examples from the rest of that series of paintings. I also asked the AI to show me a chai latte recipe. It gave me step-by-step instructions, and then I hid the display and brought it back up again. The idea is you can review the steps, get cooking, and only review the next steps when needed. This seems useful as someone with many waterlogged cookbooks.<\/p>\n

There haven\u2019t been many consumer smart glasses, but I\u2019ve tried everything from the original Google Glass and the enterprise edition to the defunct Focals by North<\/a>. I have pairs of Rokid Glasses, XREAL glasses, and the Even Realities G1 that I\u2019m currently testing. I\u2019ve even received multiple<\/a> demos<\/a> of Google\u2019s new prototype XR glasses. This is the first time I\u2019ve ever felt like consumer smart glasses might really take off. Not just because Meta\u2019s execution is excellent, but because I can see use cases I want in my daily life.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The glasses will come in two colors: black and sand, with matching neural wristbands and collapsible charging cases. Photo by Victoria Song \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Still, after the initial wonder and excitement tempered, I remembered my colleague Liz Lopatto\u2019s recent column on how none of us truly has anonymity anymore<\/a>. Surely these glasses will only exacerbate that. I thought about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s recent comments<\/a> that people without AI smart glasses will be at a \u201csignificant cognitive disadvantage.\u201d I winced at how a Border Patrol agent was spotted wearing a pair of Ray-Ban Metas<\/a> during an immigration raid. Then I mulled the huge advances these glasses could pioneer in accessibility tech, enabling disabled people to live more independently. Are we perhaps rushing to open Pandora\u2019s box without first thinking through what might break in the process? That question will linger in my mind until I get a pair for myself.<\/p>\n

The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses go on sale on September 30th for $799, and you\u2019ll be able to try them for yourselves at Best Buy, LensCrafters, Ray-Ban Stores, and Verizon. They\u2019re US-only to start, but Meta will expand sales to Canada, France, Italy, and the UK in early 2026.<\/p>\n

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