Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses get massive free upgrade, surpassing smartphone AI
Meta Connect took place this week and we got to witness some very exciting announcements. From Meta Quest 3S for $299 to Project Orion, CEO Mark Zuckerberg blew away the XR (Extended Reality) competition. And Meta didn’t forget about its highly successful Ray-Ban smart glasses: in fact, they’re getting a massive AI-powered overhaul.
The Ray-Ban smart glasses got Meta AI support earlier this year, making them a much more useful product despite the lack of a display. Now, just with software update trickery, the glasses are being transformed into an almost entirely new product.
For starters, your Ray-Ban glasses can now “remember” things, like where you parked your car or what you had for lunch. But it gets so much better: the glasses can now understand context even better than before and accept commands related to said context. An example Meta provides is looking at a flyer and then simply asking your glasses to call the number printed on it.
Another new addition is being able to send voice messages on WhatsApp or Messenger without having to pull out your phone. A partnership with Be My Eyes will also let the glasses function as aides for people with vision problems: with a real person describing to them what they’re looking at at that moment. This is a free service, making the glasses an excellent device for people with impaired vision.
For starters, your Ray-Ban glasses can now “remember” things, like where you parked your car or what you had for lunch. But it gets so much better: the glasses can now understand context even better than before and accept commands related to said context. An example Meta provides is looking at a flyer and then simply asking your glasses to call the number printed on it.
These glasses have undergone a lot of improvements since their release. | Video credit — Meta
Your Ray-Ban glasses will also soon be able to translate for you in real time. The glasses could translate text before but now they will actively let you talk with a person who’s speaking another language. This functionality was shown off at Meta Connect and was a sight to behold.
Lastly, Meta is making it more natural to converse with the glasses. You won’t have to preface every query or command with “Hey Meta” anymore as the glasses will remember and continue your conversation.
Meta is also finally rolling out these AI features to other countries besides the U.S. and Canada. In my opinion, these new features kind of make the Ray-Ban glasses even more useful than AI assistants on modern smartphones. Galaxy AI and Gemini are great but this is so much more convenient.
And Apple Intelligence is still missing so we can’t judge that yet but it doesn’t look too promising seeing as it won’t finish rolling out until some time next year.
Meta is also finally rolling out these AI features to other countries besides the U.S. and Canada. In my opinion, these new features kind of make the Ray-Ban glasses even more useful than AI assistants on modern smartphones. Galaxy AI and Gemini are great but this is so much more convenient.
And Apple Intelligence is still missing so we can’t judge that yet but it doesn’t look too promising seeing as it won’t finish rolling out until some time next year.
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