The Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses first went on sale in late September, but owing to their popularity and production, have only recently become available in large numbers. I had a chance to go hands-on with them at Meta’s launch event, but only for a few brief minutes.
I was finally able to schedule a fitting for the glasses — a required first step for anyone looking to purchase a pair — and, after waiting over a month, I finally got my hands on a pair and have been testing them out for the past day.
I’m still working on my full review, but having worn the Ray-Ban Display for a fair chunk of time, I have a few initial impressions of these $800 specs, and how they might stack up against the best smart glasses.
They’re chunky
Compared to Meta’s other wearables, which don’t scream “smart glasses,” the Displays have a much thicker frame (think Buddy Holly), which makes them stand out a lot more. My wife commented that they didn’t look as nice on me as the Ray-Bans or Oakleys, so be prepared to get a few more stares if you pick these up.
I do like that the Meta Displays come with transition lenses by default, as it would be a shame to have to stop wearing them each time I went indoors or outside.
Gestures took a while to master
Both at the store and on the glasses themselves, Meta offers some pretty good instructions on how to use the gestures, but it still takes some practice. By the second day, I had gotten them down fairly well, but there have been more than a few occasions where I had to rub my thumb over my forefinger more than once to get things to move on the display.
My favorite gesture is the pinch to adjust volume or zoom. If you’re listening to music, you can touch your index finger and thumb and then rotate your wrist to increase or decrease volume. Similarly, if you’re using the camera app, the same gesture lets you zoom in and out.