Facebook, Ray-Ban launch ‘Ray-Ban Stories,’ first generation smart glasses

Facebook has launched its first pair of smart glasses in partnership with Ray-Ban called ‘Ray-Ban Stories.’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced a multiyear collaboration between the tech giant and Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica to develop the next generation of smart glasses during the company’s annual conference Facebook Connect last year.

Ray-Ban Stories comes in three styles: Wayfarer (also available in size Wayfarer L), Round and Meteor, and is offered in five colours and more lens choices, for 20 possible variations. The glasses come with dual integrated 5MP cameras.

They enable users to take photos and up to 30-second videos using the capture button or hands-free with Facebook Assistant voice commands. The glasses are equipped with a hard-wired capture LED that lights up to let people nearby know when a user is taking a photo or video.

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They come with built-in streamlined, open-ear speakers. They are also equipped with built-in Bluetooth and a three-microphone audio array.

Ray-Ban Stories pairs with the new Facebook View app. Facebook View app on iOS and Android lets users import, edit, and share content captured on the smart glasses to apps on their phone and on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, etc. Users can also save content to their phone’s camera roll and edit and share from there. The social media major has also added exclusive post-capture enhancements built into Facebook View.

The glasses come with a portable charging case. The makers also highlighted the privacy features for the device. Users can set their personal preferences for importing photos and videos on the Facebook View app and when and where they share content that they capture with the glasses.

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“By default, Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses collect data that’s needed to make your glasses work and function, like your battery status to alert you when your battery is low, your email address and password for your Facebook login to verify it’s really you when you log into the Facebook View app, and your WiFi connectivity,” the makers said in a blog post.

Users can opt-in to share additional data which includes things like the number of images that they captured or how long they spent taking videos with Facebook for “product development, improvement, and personalisation,” the post added.

This setting can be changed at any time. Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses and Facebook View are ads-free experiences. The pricing for the glasses starts $299. Users can choose from 20 combinations of frame/lens styles from the frames Ray-Ban offers- Wayfarer, Round or Meteor.

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Ray-Ban Stories have been launched at select Ray-Ban stores, on Ray-Ban.com, and will be rolling out to other retailers soon, in six countries including the US, UK, Canada, Italy, Ireland and Australia. They are also available with Polarised (starting at $329), Transitions lenses ($379) and prescription (varied pricing).

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