The video presents a hands-on review of Meta’s new $799 Ray-Ban Stories Display smart glasses, which feature a transparent display and a novel interface. The reviewer is impressed, stating this is the first time a face-worn tech product has genuinely convinced him. The glasses combine familiar Ray-Ban Meta hardware—such as a camera, speakers, and microphones—with new features like transition lenses that automatically tint outdoors and a larger custom battery to power the display. The display itself projects a small image slightly to the side of the right eye, offering a bright, private viewing experience that no one else can see, though it is not augmented reality as it does not track surroundings.
The glasses come with a premium storage case that can switch between storage and a flat, pocketable form. Despite packing significant technology, the glasses remain comfortable and relatively lightweight at 69 grams, only slightly chunkier than regular Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Control is primarily through a new neural band worn on the wrist, which detects electrical impulses from wrist muscles to interpret hand gestures. This controller is intuitive and reliable, allowing natural gestures like double taps, pinches, and rotations to navigate the interface without accidental triggers, even though it lacks eye-tracking capabilities like the Apple Vision Pro.
Software-wise, the glasses are designed to eventually replace smartphones, but currently, about half of their functions depend on a paired phone. The user interface is functional but not as polished or fast as a smartphone, and the app selection is limited, mostly featuring Meta’s own versions of popular apps. Despite this, many features feel genuinely useful, such as reading and responding to WhatsApp messages via voice notes, dictation, pre-made replies, or even writing letters on your leg. The glasses also offer real-time captioning and translation using their five-microphone array, which isolates speech from background noise impressively, though translation introduces some awkward pauses.
Additional apps include MetaMaps for navigation, Spotify for music, and a camera capable of 12-megapixel photos and 3K video, though the camera quality and responsiveness are comparable to older smartphones. Meta AI is integrated for voice queries and can assist with tasks like cooking recipes, highlighting the potential of a device that is always accessible. The reviewer envisions future possibilities such as the glasses using the camera to remember objects’ locations, showcasing how close we are to more advanced smart glasses functionality.
In conclusion, while the Ray-Ban Stories Display glasses are not yet a must-buy for most consumers due to their price and current limitations, they represent an important step toward mainstream smart glasses. Meta aims to establish itself as a leader in this emerging category before Apple releases its own more affordable vision products. The reviewer is optimistic that the technology will improve rapidly now that the product is on the market, signaling a promising future for smart glasses as a smartphone replacement.
