It's been a couple of years since the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses launched, and after much speculation, rumor, and official teasing, the 2nd-generation of these smart specs have landed, along with a bunch of appealing upgrades over their immediate predecessors.
Maybe you're considering investing in these new glasses, or perhaps you're just wondering how far this lightweight form factor has progressed – but whatever the reason for your interest, we've got everything you need to know on the product, straight from Meta.
The starting price for the new Meta Ray-Ban Gen 2 smart glasses is $379 / £379 / AU$599 for standard lens options, and as before, there are multiple frame shapes, colors, and lens varieties to choose from. In fact, there are some 27 different configurations in all.
1. The battery life is much better
In our Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses review, we described the battery life of the smart specs as being somewhere in the region of four hours, which matches the time between charges that Meta claimed users could expect. With the Meta Ray-Ban Gen 2, that battery life is doubled, so you can look forward to eight hours of battery life.
While Meta hasn't said how it's achieved these rather dramatic battery life improvements, we're all for them. Presumably, either the battery has been made bigger, or some significant power efficiency savings have been made.
That's enough to spend a whole day out and about, and away from a power socket, without worrying about your smart specs dying on you – although of course, to some extent, battery life will depend on usage. You'll get five hours of continuous audio playback or voice calling, for example, according to Meta.
2. There are charging upgrades too
While we're on the subject of batteries, the Meta Ray-Ban Gen 2 will charge up more quickly than the previous model as well. That can make a real difference when you need to head out and only have a few minutes to charge up your device.
According to Meta, the latest version of the smart specs can charge from 0 to 50 percent in as little as 20 minutes. That's two minutes quicker than the figures we were quoted for the original Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses.
As before, a charging case is also included, providing even more potential for on-the-go battery life. This time around, the case provides 48 hours of extra battery life (so six full cycles), up from 32 hours on the earlier model.
3. Video resolution is improved
One of the benefits of smart glasses like these is that you can capture photos and videos quickly and more naturally. Instead of having to dig into a pocket or a bag for your phone, you're able to capture shots of anything in front of you almost instantly.
With the Meta Ray-Ban Gen 2, the video resolution has been upped to what Meta is calling "3K Ultra HD", which is apparently 6.4 million pixels per frame – twice as many as with the first model. However, the megapixel rating stays the same at 12MP.
That 3K resolution comes paired with a 30 frames-per-second record rate. You can also opt for a 1440p resolution at 30 fps, or a 1200p resolution at 60 fps, so you can pick the best mode for whatever shooting scenario you're dealing with.
4. You've got new shooting modes
In the coming weeks, Meta says it's going to be rolling out two new video capture modes for you to play around with: hyperlapse (for squashing a long period of time into a shorter clip) and slow motion (for extending a short period of time).
The new modes should give you more flexibility when it comes to what you can do with the smart specs on your face – though we'll have to wait and see exactly how the modes work and the sort of video quality you can expect.
Strictly speaking, this upgrade isn't exclusive to the Meta Ray-Ban Gen 2, as Meta says it's going to be appearing on all of its AI glasses. However, the latest model will give you those extra video resolution and frame rate options.
5. More upgrades are coming
There are other upgrades on the way, though again, they're not exclusive to the 2nd generation of these glasses. Meta says a new feature called conversation focus is "coming soon", which uses the open ear speakers on the glasses to amplify the voice of someone talking directly to you.
That should make it easier to understand people in busy public places, and it'll all happen automatically – so you don't need to be fiddling with settings for it to work. You can do something similar with the Apple AirPods.
More software upgrades are arriving with extra language packs for the live translation feature, and the supported languages are going to grow to six with the addition of German and Portuguese. They'll even work offline if they've been downloaded in advance.
