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Snap Launches $2,195 'Specs' Augmented Reality Glasses

Maybe they'll make an Electrocomp next...

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This product execution has very little appeal to me, but this product category has immense appeal to me.

I'm eagerly looking forward to the day that I can see directional overlays while navigating by foot or bike or car, get live notes next to every object or art piece in a museum, have a hands-free checklist always in sight when my hands are tied up with cooking or a project, review notifications without having to Command+Tab to another app or pull out a another device, or have something point at exactly what I need to do when working on a thing that I may not know well (e.g. maintenance on a car, like what they showed in one example). Even the convenience of having a clock, a countdown to my next event/meeting, or the current weather status that is just a flick of the eye away would be great, since I currently need to pull my phone out or sit in front of a computer to have those.

If I could offload that sort of passive information to my glasses, it would let my phone and computer become more clutter-free. More space on the home screen. More menu bar space. More focus.

There's a germ of something neat here.
 
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I totally agree that these are too expensive and too thick, but a first-gen version of any product category always is. Just look at "luggable" computers from the 80s, then zip forward to see how things get smaller, smaller, smaller. So it'll be with these. Maybe they're not for you but they're still more than $1000 cheaper than the Vision Pro.
 
Jean Claude said:
Dude, you're already surrounded by cameras in public ... no one cares.....
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I don't think it's that no one cares, but we all recognize that the ship has sailed. A long time ago. Pick your cliche. Can't put the genie back in the bottle. We're not headed towards a sci-fi utopia, that much is obvious.
 
Setting the price aside, I'd be interested in this. Not in public. I have zero interest in games. But I love learning new things... e.g. I've always wanted to learn more about engines and it would seem of enormous benefit to get information in real time while I have things in my hands. And I love learning how to play musical instruments. That part about learning to play drums, showing a person where/when to hit seems cool. Having scales overlaid on a fretboard and learning about the different modes, etc without taking eyes off the guitar would be really cool. It's hard for me to imagine certain manufacturing companies *not* being interested in this. I dunno. My two cents. I think it's inevitable that people will wear these things in public, but I don't feel it's my place to record people that don't know they're being recorded, or even putting them in a position where they know they're being recorded but had no say in the matter. So, for home use only. At about half the cost I would consider a purchase if they're truly light enough to wear comfortably and don't cause problems with eye strain or cause dizziness.
 
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loadpony said:
Setting the price aside, I'd be interested in this. Not in public. I have zero interest in games. But I love learning new things... e.g. I've always wanted to learn more about engines and it would seem of enormous benefit to get information in real time while I have things in my hands. And I love learning how to play musical instruments. That part about learning to play drums, showing a person where/when to hit seems cool. Having scales overlaid on a fretboard and learning about the different modes, etc without taking eyes off the guitar would be really cool. It's hard for me to imagine certain manufacturing companies *not* being interested in this. I dunno. My two cents. I think it's inevitable that people will wear these things in public, but I don't feel it's my place to record people that don't know they're being recorded, or even putting them in a position where they know they're being recorded but had no say in the matter. So, for home use only. At about half the cost I would consider a purchase if they're truly light enough to wear comfortably and don't cause problems with eye strain or cause dizziness.
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You can also choose to use them in public and not record people. Imagine that. You can also choose to use your smartphone in public and not record people. Everyone focuses on video recording, but the smartphone makes it super easy to record audio. In the age of AI, that audio can be used to impersonate and scam. Progress isn't perfect and there will always be downsides to any new technology.
 
lazyrighteye said:
When a hand-selected, well-paid model looks like a doofus while wearing them, what do you think us regular doofuses will look like wearing them? Hint: not a model.

Edit: This is where I suspect Apple will prove strong(er): hardware design. But even with their experience with more fashion-forward endeavors, eyeglasses are a tricky one. What one puts on their wrist isn't nearly was scrutinized as what one puts on their face. And looks through. Interested to see how Apple approaches that conundrum.
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Exactly! I think it would have been much more palatable if they would not have tried to make them look sexy by putting them on a perfume model! Just put it on a regular schmo.

I'm not knocking their technology effort, because yes, you do have to start somewhere but, in my opinion, the marketing undermines the adoption campaign by actually making the product look ridiculous on the face of a beautiful model.
 
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Brother Cavil said:
You can also choose to use them in public and not record people. Imagine that. You can also choose to use your smartphone in public and not record people. Everyone focuses on video recording, but the smartphone makes it super easy to record audio. In the age of AI, that audio can be used to impersonate and scam. Progress isn't perfect and there will always be downsides to any new technology.
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Yes, you are absolutely correct. I try to not think about being recorded, especially when I use something like AirBnB but it's good to be reminded that there are recording devices everywhere these days.
 
It's crazy to read all these negative comments. It's like being transported back to 2007 when all the Blackberry users piled on the iPhone release. You're on the wrong side of history and extremely short-sighted. Whether you like it or not, this is where computing is headed and Snap is wayyyy ahead of the competition. For everyone complaining about the size, let's see you design one that can do what these can do at this size and battery life in a smaller component without a tether or puck like Apple or Meta or Google. Use your common sense — what this device can do is nothing short of INCREDIBLE and REVOLUTIONARY. It's just like when Steve introduced the iPhone, haters and all haha. Congrats to the Snap team. What an unbelievable achievement after 12 years of work. Let's see Zuck rip this off!
 
Aichon said:
This product execution has very little appeal to me, but this product category has immense appeal to me.

I'm eagerly looking forward to the day that I can see directional overlays while navigating by foot or bike or car, get live notes next to every object or art piece in a museum, have a hands-free checklist always in sight when my hands are tied up with cooking or a project, review notifications without having to Command+Tab to another app or pull out a another device, or have something point at exactly what I need to do when working on a thing that I may not know well (e.g. maintenance on a car, like what they showed in one example). Even the convenience of having a clock, a countdown to my next event/meeting, or the current weather status that is just a flick of the eye away would be great, since I currently need to pull my phone out or sit in front of a computer to have those.

If I could offload that sort of passive information to my glasses, it would let my phone and computer become more clutter-free. More space on the home screen. More menu bar space. More focus.

There's a germ of something neat here.
Click to expand...



Did you watch the video most of these features are present
 
lapstags said:
Did you watch the video most of these features are present
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Neat! I skipped around, so I didn't see all of those demo'd. Even so, this execution just isn't for me. I love the idea of this product category, but not this product. To me, there's a huge gulf between a checkbox on a feature checklist and an implementation that actually gets everything right. This product checks a lot of checkboxes, but hoo boy is it obtrusive, clunky, and lacking in the bare minimum battery life I consider acceptable.

Does the product I want exist? Nope. But hopefully it will one day!
 
Happy_John said:
The biggest issue here is the concept of public space. There's someone fundamentally wrong with wanting to wear glasses with cameras that can record and scan the people around you, but want to have privacy for yourself.
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I disagree. I see nothing "fundamentally wrong" in enjoying public spaces while also desiring privacy. I'd even point out that you likely do both yourself all the time.

Have you ever had a private conversation in public or covered your hand while entering a PIN at a register? If so, you expect a degree of privacy while in public. Have you ever taken a photo of a landmark that included strangers or recorded a video that captured background conversations? If so, you're infringing on others' privacy because you expect to be able to enjoy the use of public spaces. Either way, your behavior was perfectly acceptable, to the point that it's even protected by law.

There's nothing incongruous in being okay with cameras while still desiring privacy for oneself.

Even so, I'm willing to agree that pervasive cameras are a real concern. I just disagree with the allegations of hypocrisy.
 
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Interesting product - looking forward to seeing the reviews when it eventually ships!

I have to say though, Evan Spiegel seems to have taken too many pages out of the Steve Jobs product intro playbook for me! Many parts of his presentation sounded like the Steve Jobs iPhone introduction... which felt a bit weird to me. Cos Steve Jobs you ain't, fella!

But anyway... good luck with it, I guess!
 
subjonas said:
Impressive engineering, and this looks like it can be very useful, but keep it in private spaces. As I will continue to say, I don’t want to see anything that resembles wearable cameras in public.
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Totally agree. I think the technology looks impressive, but I can’t imagine hanging out with a friend who is wearing these. When someone is ignoring me by looking at their phone I can at least see that.

Personally no matter how great the tech, I don’t think I could do that level of immersion in public.
 
It doesn’t look good but it looks better than competitors. This shouldn’t be a Snap product. The first thing that came to my mind was “when the wrong one loves you right”.

Snap should keep doing what they’re good at.
 
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