Meta announced the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 AI glasses with two times better battery life and better video capture.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said the world’s best-selling AI glasses just got even better with the second-generation glasses launch today. It’s on sale now at meta.com and Ray-Ban.com starting at $379. Zuckerberg announced the news at the Meta Connect event at the company’s headquarters in San Mateo, California.
The new glasses have an animated screen overlay that give an augmented reality feel to the glasses. You can also ask, “Hey Meta,” anytime you wish and ask AI to answer your questions. And you can ask, “Hey Meta, what am I looking at?” The AR images are in the lower right part of the screen and don’t really block your view.
It’s been an exciting year for Ray-Ban Meta, with the release of multiple new styles, groundbreaking new features like live AI and live translation, and appearances at Paris Fashion Week and the Met Gala.
“We are focused on designing glasses with a few goals,” Zuckerberg said in the speech. “If you are going to wear glasses all day every day, they need to be refined” when it comes to aesthetics and comfort.
He said the tech needs to get out of the way. Meta AI will transition eventually to a service that will be Live AI, where you can use it all day. Right now, it lasts an hour or two.
“The promise of glasses is to preserve this sense of presence you get when you are with other people,” he said. “We have lost the opportunity with phones, and we can get it back with glasses.”
He said AI, as integrated into the glasses, should bring superintelligence to people. You make yourself smarter and direct AI to most of what matters in your life.
It will, for instance, give you “conversation focus.” If you are in a noisy bar, it will turn up the volume of your friends’ glasses. This is an upgrade available for both Gen 1 and Gen 2, Zuckerberg said.
Ray-Ban Meta glasses have become the No. 1 selling AI glasses in the world, with millions of units sold since launch. People love them — as a hands-free camera for life’s most important moments, a convenient AI assistant, a real-time translator, and an open-ear audio player that lets you stay engaged with your surroundings, all within iconic styles that are perfect for everyday wear.
With Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2), we’ve maintained all the features you love, but with some key
under-the-hood improvements that will make them an even better companion.
Zuckerberg said the team enhanced the battery life. A fully-charged pair of Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) glasses can last up to eight hours with typical use. That’s almost twice the battery life of Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 1), making them perfect for morning-to-night music festivals or your outdoor adventures.
You can charge Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) up to 50% in just 20 minutes, minimizing downtime on all-day excursions. And for longer outings, Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) comes with a charging
case that provides an additional 48 hours of charging on-the-go. Capture more photos and videos, make more memories, and spend less time charging.
Meta also added 3K Ultra HD video capture to Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2). Capture sharper, smoother, and more vivid videos with ultrawide HDR, up to 60 frames per second, and over 2x more pixels than the previous generation. And later this fall, hands-free filming is getting upgraded across all of our AI glasses with two new capture settings: hyperlapse and slow motion.
New capture settings are just one example of how Ray-Ban Meta glasses continue to get better and more capable over time with regular updates and new features. At Connect, we revealed conversation focus, a new feature coming soon to AI glasses. Conversation focus uses AI glasses’ open-ear speakers to amplify the voice of the person you’re talking to, helping distinguish them from ambient background noise in cafes and restaurants, parks, and other busy places.
Conversation focus will soon be available as a software update on Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta HSTN glasses.
Meta is also expanding live translation to support German and Portuguese starting today. Soon, you’ll be able to have back-and-forth conversations between six languages — even when you’re in airplane mode, so long as you’ve downloaded the language pack in advance.
Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) lets you match your look to your lifestyle, whether you prefer the legendary Wayfarer, the modern Skyler, or the popular Headliner. Starting today, you’ll be able to get Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) in some of the most popular style-and-color combinations, plus three new limited-time-only seasonal colors, available now:
● Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer (Gen 2) Shiny Cosmic Blue Transitions® Sapphire Lenses (also
available in Large)
● Ray-Ban Meta Skyler (Gen 2) Shiny Mystic Violet Transitions® Amethyst Lenses
● Ray-Ban Meta Headliner (Gen 2) Shiny Asteroid Grey with Transitions Emerald Lenses
Metais also bringing Ray-Ban Meta to more countries than ever before. Starting today, you can now order Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and Meta will be bringing them to Brazil soon.
The older Ray-Ban Meta glasses (Gen 1) are selling for $299.
Hands-on with the glasses
I tried out the glasses while at the preview event at the Meta campus and they do all of the usual things that the first glasses did. The side bands of the glasses convey the sound into the bones of your skull and so you can hear sounds but those around you don’t.
The glasses can take pictures with a side button push. If you hold down the same button, you can take a video. You can listen to music with a tap and turn up the volume sliding your hand along the sideband. The Meta AI will connect to Spotify and enable you to play your Spotify songs.
Then there’s the new AI features that didn’t really exist in version 1.0. One haha moment at the keynote: Boz tried to call Zuckerberg on stage and he couldn’t answer the call to his AI glasses multiple times during a live demo.