Verdict

The Ray - Ban Stories are camera - toting smartglasses that really do expect like a lovely pair of shades and are capable of capturing your adventures in a more memorable style . at last though , they do n’t have the computer hardware to fork up the standout performance to match that attractive , decorator face and also does n’t always make it obvious to those around you that you ’re in recording or shooting mode .

Pros

Cons

Key Features

Introduction

The Ray - Ban Stories are smartglasses built in collaboration with Meta , letting you take photos , record video and heed to your music without make for your headphone or a pair of headphone .

Like the Snapchat Spectacles , Meta and Ray - Ban ’s parent chemical group Essilor Luxottica has set its batch on making attached specs that feel just like wearing a normal brace of shades . They ’re modelled on live design to give it that more familiar and stylish feeling .

Those extra smartness make pick up a pair of connect Ray - Bans an even pricier investiture , so do they do well enough to apologize that superfluous spend ? I adjudicate to put my phone and headphones to one side to see if these smartglasses could help me forget about them .

Design and build

Glasses packed with cameras , speakers and microphone are n’t a young phenomenon , but the twosome that work best are the ones where you do n’t sense the comportment of that supernumerary hardware . Thankfully , that is n’t the case with these sassy sunglasses .

These experience like a moderately even pair of Ray - Bans . The weight difference between a smart and non - fresh pair is around 5 thousand and typically , that added hardware entail bulk up the skeleton but that is n’t the case with the Stories .

That ’s helped by the fact that they ’re offered in three discrete looks , all with multiple colour options that are closely modelled on existing designs . There ’s the iconic Wayfarer , a Round version and the Meteor take care that I had to populate with and , fragile added weightiness aside , I never felt like I was wear a bulky , tech - fill pair of spec .

All of the designs number in a large size option , which did n’t feel too big to me with all of them also offering a mellow span primed to make certain that your middle sit in the proper position behind the electron lens . address of lens , you do have the choice to add in prescription drug I in here as well , just in case you ’re hoping they can exchange your unconstipated glasses or give you a contact lens lense break when condition get sunnier .

The key feature article here are the threefold , five - megapixel photographic camera that sit in the corner of each genus Lens , with a small lily-white LED light just beside each of them to countenance people get it on around you that recording or snapping is in progress . Unlike Snap ’s Specs , those cameras do seem to sit a little less prominently here , while that indicator light is n’t staggeringly seeable when using them in bright out-of-door light either , which does bring up some questions on just how obvious they make it to others that you ’re record and shooting .

There ’s a solitary , farseeing forcible clitoris on the top of the right weapon to roleplay as your camera shutter with an on / off slider switch positioned on the inside of the drinking glass with an LED light on the opposite side to say you when they ’re ready to lose it by and whether they ’re connected to your phone to do things like stream euphony or take shout .

Unlike a normal pair of specs , you wo n’t want to dunk them in water system . They do n’t hold any sort of piddle resistance rating and while I did endeavor to get originative with them in some water and they did come through , we do n’t recommend trying this yourself .

When they ’re not in use there ’s quite a big charging case to make use of , where the glass have to be placed on the dot in - line with the excite larboard hidden away inside of the hinge of the glasses frame . That case does have got its own electric charge too , with a send position indicator light at the front and a USB - C charging port around back when you need to power the case and glass back up . Like the glasses , it does n’t carry any variety of waterproofing , but it does feel like it offers up expert tribute for the specs .

Features and performance

What these glasses are primarily designed to do is to exchange pulling out your phone to take photos and record book video recording . Yes , they can let you hear to music and handle calls as well , but the true charm is in having a promptly available television camera on your face .

So how good a job does it do on that front ? I ’d say that it does a good job , but execution certainly does n’t blow you away and you really need to master the honorable way to shoot , as well as find the good lighting condition to get the most rewarding results .

Once you ’ve gone through a pretty painless set - up unconscious process with the Facebook View companion smartphone app , which does ask a Facebook report , you could open up the spyglass and you ’ll hear a voice command prompt assure you the battery level in percentage , before needing to wait for a beeping audio to order you that you ’re ready to scoot .

Then it ’s a simple case of press the physical shutter clit to record video or hold it down to take a exposure . There are also voice controls , lease you say , ‘ Hey Facebook ’ to enjoin them to take a picture , record a picture or or else take control of music playback and handle a call .

When you ’re recording TV , you ’re capturing 1184 x 1184 firmness video at 30fps with a maximal duration of 60 seconds . For pictures , those are snap at a 2592 x 1984 pixel resolution . So on theme , not quite the same stage of video calibre promised by Snap on its latest spectacle , but something potentially a niggling better on the image front . The camera on the left side of the eyeglasses is used for something called stereo depth estimation . It combine with the image admit with the correct camera to add together effects and filters to leverage exposure depth and create a form of 3D - style effect .

Ultimately , the video and exposure capturing abilities of the Stories are good , particularly with imagery in the right kind of natural inflammation condition , but it ’s definitely been a shade hit and lose with the video timber . A lot of the video I shot was n’t always peculiarly sharp or vivid , and the gloss at meter felt saturated . When you add movement into the equation , it handles thing relatively well but it can result in judder if you move speedily whilst wearing them .

Something that did stand out was the audio seizure , with the Stories pack in three microphones that do a very good chore of snaffle exterior sound and voices , and also make them useful for call option too . They were very sensitive to pick up the audio of wind however , which did n’t sound great on videos .

As audio glasses , they are n’t particularly gravid or better than what you will get from dedicated audio glasses already out there . They have a with child deal of legal leakage too , so people will be able-bodied to hear what you ’re take heed to . The touch controls also progress into the frame do take a bit of clock time to get used to , peculiarly in find the odorous spot to quickly play and pause audio .

There ’s also the challenge of bourgeon from deoxyephedrine and thinking otherwise about how you ’ll get the most rewarding moving picture and telecasting . Trying to take photos or video of someone walking alongside you is n’t very light to do unless they ’re standing a little further off than usual . You do n’t want to wear them with a cap either as I found that you ’ll end up with footage that ’s partially obstructed by your crownwork ’s lip , which is n’t exactly ideal . It ’s the same situation with hairsbreadth . It can be all too easy to circumstantially take photos and videos as well , which will wipe out into your storage with no mode to delete them directly from the chicken feed .

There ’s no question that the Ray - Ban Stories can provide a refreshingly dissimilar position and an choice means to taper and shooting with a camera or a telephone , but it occupy some acting around to get the good footage or shots in the optimum scenario and precondition . By the end of a day ’s hit I ended up with a miscellaneous bag of photograph and video and that ’s really the trouble here . You have to fool a lot to increase your chances of receive something that really beat what you ’re getting from your earpiece .

App and battery life

When you record or shoot photo with the Stories , those files are salt away on the work up - in 4 GB of storage which should give you way for over 500 photograph or over 15 , 60 - arcsecond videos . The shabu will fire out a interpreter prompt when you ’re shut in on that computer storage capacity and when you ’ve maxed it out as well .

For a day of examination , I took a intermixture of 73 images and videos and managed to fill up that promised 4 GB of store . You ca n’t view any of those captured stills or footage on the eyeglasses themselves so you need to sync them all over to the Facebook View app which can be a minuscule slow going if you ’re syncing over a mess of hooey at once . Once it ’s all synced over , it ’s wipe from the glasses to give you more elbow room to shoot again .

The Facebook View app gives you a form of thumbnail - style grid to look over captured footage and ikon , and will create highlight collage which do n’t precisely rival how Apple or Google ’s own photo apps manage to blend imagery and videos into one .

There ’s a Flashback modal value to create 3D videos and also scope to tinker with feature like video distance capture , setting up Spotify desegregation for music playback and setting up calling and messaging livelihood as well . There ’s some pretty basic editing puppet here too like the ability to trim videos and adjust image brightness , saturation , pungency and warmth , and it ’s these feature of speech that will assist you get the most of the raw images .

On the barrage fire front , up to three - time of day is quoted but that really depends on whether you ’re scud more video than images and you ’re using the drinking glass for medicine swarm as well . I conceive that if you require to use them for an entire day , then you ’ll need to do so sparingly . After around three hours of jolly regular use , with a focus on video over photograph gaining control , the barrage fire dropped by 50 % . The best manner to keep that battery going is to switch over them off when you ’re not using them for a geological period as they do n’t automatically flex themselves off when not in use .

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Should you buy it?

: If you ’re sold on the idea of having camera in your glasses , these are arguably the comfortably - looking yoke that do just look like a squeamish pair of Ray - Ban glasses .

While it might be more commodious to take pictures from your methamphetamine hydrochloride , the icon and video quality merely does n’t match what your tv camera phone can already do .

Final Thoughts

The Ray - Ban Stories really feel like a flake of a missed chance for both Ray - Ban and Meta . They got one part right , which was to make the technical school mostly disappear inside of a very stylish duad of sunglasses . I did finagle to enamor some memorable videos from a alone view that I would ’ve struggled to get from a phone , but if you ’re hop for smartphone - rivalling quality overall , these glasses are n’t quite there yet . To see what other products you could couple with your smartphone , you could check out our round - up of thebest iPhone accessories .

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FAQs

No , the Ray - Ban Stories dark glasses or charging eccentric are not waterproof and not suitable for being submerged in pee for natural process like swimming .

Yes , you could deal image to your earphone ’s tv camera app or camera curl and to some back up third political party apps as well .

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