Meta has launched a new and upgraded version of its smart glasses, this time in collaboration with Oakley.
The new glasses cost $499 and are known as the Oakley Meta HSTN, which is pronounced “how-stuhn”. Other versions at $399 are coming later this year, and the price is the same in pounds.
Like Meta’s existing glasses – made in collaboration with Ray-Ban, which is owned by the same parent company as Oakley – the HSTNs add a camera, microphone and speakers into glasses that otherwise look normal. They are paired with a phone and then can be used for taking pictures and videos, as well as making calls or listening to music.
Meta has also recently pushed the glasses as a way of interacting with its artificial intelligence system. The wearer can speak to the AI assistant and ask for information about something they are looking at, for instance.
The new version of the glasses include a range of improvements on those existing models, however, including increased battery life, better water resistance and a better 3K camera compared with 1080p on the Ray-Bans.
Meta is also focusing on the new Oakley model as a way of appealing to athletes such as runners and cyclists. In a post on Threads, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said that the new glasses are “built for action”.
The company suggested that those much-vaunted AI features could also be useful to athletes. When playing golf, people can ask the system for the wind speed, it suggested.
The first pair of glasses is intended to be a limited edition. There are a host of possible frame colours – warm grey, black, brown smoke, and clear – as well as different lenses, allowing for clear or sunglasses.
Meta has a longterm partnership with EssorLuxottica, the parent company of both Ray-Ban and Oakley. The latter has suggested that it hopes to be making 10 million Meta glasses each year by the end of 2026.
A recent report suggested that Meta may also be looking beyond that collaboration, however, and could also produce new glasses with Prada.
Meta hopes that the sunglasses will eventually merge with its virtual reality headsets, to allow for wearable glasses with a display that users can wear to access the metaverse.
