If there was one thing that was obvious about Meta Connect this year, it’s that the social media giant is betting on its burgeoning line of smart glasses.
In fact, the glasses were practically everywhere at the annual event, where Meta shows off its newest hardware and AI products. Both the Meta staff and the flocks of influencers who frequent the event seemed to arrive with their glasses glued to their faces. Most of the demos the company offered this week also involved glasses.
I quickly joined the bespectacled masses and found myself trying on pair after pair of Meta’s high-tech glasses.
One of the most notable products that I had the opportunity to demonstrate was the new Meta product, still unreleased, audio-only smart glasses. News of these glasses emerged shortly after the company resisted accusations that it was selling “pervert glasses” and critics allege its camera-equipped specs could be used for nefarious surveillance purposes.
The new glasses come equipped with six microphones, but no camera, and have no native way to record your surroundings, which should go a long way toward alleviating privacy concerns. They are significantly lighter than any of the other smart glasses I’ve used and were quite comfortable.
The Meta staff member I spoke to emphasized the glasses’ communication and entertainment options: You can easily listen to music (they’re more comfortable than headphones) and take phone calls without having to pick up the phone.
The glasses will also integrate with Muse, Meta’s personal agency system, which can perform tasks on the user’s behalf. The new integration, which is not yet available to the public, allows users to talk to Muse and give it commands verbally. Meta also plans to personalize the agent, allowing users to choose from a variety of cute digital avatars that can represent the agent when communicating with them.
I got the chance to try this out, which was fun but also kind of comical. You have to be very direct with the agent and you can’t talk to anyone else at the same time or they will get confused. The problematic thing was that I kept chatting on and off with the Meta staff member who had given me the glasses, and the agent kept thinking I was talking to him, so he would talk over her.
Still, in the right context, it’s easy to see how this new integration could be incredibly useful. If you don’t mind being seen in public speaking in your own sunglasses, you can ask Muse to take care of various digital tasks for you, such as sending emails or reciting to-do lists, and it will handle them while you’re shopping or having a beer. You can also ask the glasses anything and, like the mobile version of ChatGPT, they will answer you. (I asked the glasses a question about World War II and they gave me a concise and historically accurate answer.)
Finally, I was also able to try out a second audio-only pair: Meta’s new glasses for the hearing impaired. Since hearing loss affects many families (about 50 million Americans are said to have some level of hearing loss), this device, unlike many other modern technological devices, has a clear and practical purpose.
I spoke briefly with a member of Meta’s research team who said the glasses had been in development for about five years and pointed out a price difference that could make them attractive: While many headphones can cost up to $1,600, the glasses will sell for $150.
The experience of using these glasses was interesting. Meta had me put in earplugs before trying them on to simulate the hearing loss that the glasses are meant to help wearers overcome. Once the glasses were on, they seemed to amplify the voice of the person he was speaking to. Users can change the amplification from focused, which concentrates on the person in front of them, to omnidirectional, which picks up sound from around them, depending on how they want to experience their environment.
Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that he believes smart glasses are the future, and it’s clear that his company is doing everything it can to fulfill that vision. But smart glasses remain a niche that has yet to find its place. The most obvious thing about Connect is that Meta, in an attempt to succeed where others failed, has cast a very wide net, trying to make its glasses stylish, functional and, above all, useful.
Is this the future? Unsurprisingly, everyone at Connect seemed to think so. I guess we’ll have to see if the rest of the world follows suit.
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