New mixed reality (XR) devices are coming out much more frequently these days with more and more companies wanting to join in the growing popularity of the XR industry among consumers. With the number of devices launched, it's hard to stand out, but one product has recently been getting some attention from multiple industries. The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are one of the few products that has become widely available to consumers and has garnered some favorable reviews from users. When new XR devices are released, we at Yulio always like to assess them for their business use cases, to make sure we can offer up our best recommendations for what devices our users should use. Read on for a breakdown of what exactly the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses offer and if we see a business use for them.
Spoiler: The Ray-Ban Meta Glasses are a fun gimmick for consumers, but we don’t see a business application at this time.
What are the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses?
The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are one of the latest products from Meta, the company behind Facebook and the already very popular Meta Quest VR headset line. They have partnered with Ray-Ban, a popular glasses brand, to create their first smart glasses product. The Ray-Ban Meta Smart glasses are an Augmented Reality (AR) focused XR device. This means that these glasses will function as a normal pair of glasses but allow you to see virtual objects projected into the world around you.
Image credit: Meta
The key features of this product are similar to other smart devices currently available. They have a camera that faces forward and that allows you to capture images and video hands free. They have speakers along the stems that allow you to listen to music and communicate with a virtual AI assistant as well as take advantage of live translation features. They can connect to your phone to allow you to video call others and even have the video displayed in your eyesight.
Overall, the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses offer many features that are available on a regular smartphone, but with the added convenience of being hands free and situated on your face.
What are the Positives?
Overall, the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses offer a nice little suite of features that appeal to the everyday user. The convenience of hands-free communication and photography is nice and can easily fit into everyday life. We can see it being quite useful to content creators and others who want to capture their life and the world around them.
Partnering with Ray-Ban was also a smart move for Meta as Ray-Ban is a massively popular brand with a lot of brand recognition all over the world. They worked to keep the signature style in the product designed to make these frames appealing and not overly garish like some smart glasses products from the past.
We can see these becoming increasingly popular as a social tool and a unique way for people to stay connected.
Is There a Business Use for The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses?
This is where things get a little tricky. Overall, we at Yulio don’t see much of a business use-case for Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. We think it is something really only for consumer use. It really comes down to the features and the pricing of the product.
When we look at XR devices we look at how they can fit into a business workflow and for us XR has always been a top tier presentation tool. These glasses just don’t really have the tools built in for presentations and really are just an extension of your other smart devices. There is no immersion when using them and they’re meant to have you almost forget they are there.
The price tag also reinforces our opinion. For the same price as the glasses, you can purchase truly immersive XR devices that have the same features and more. They will not have the style and inconspicuousness of the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, but we think you will get more bang for your buck elsewhere.
We Recommend Another XR Device from Meta for Business Use
The Meta Quest devices are standalone XR headsets from Meta, which means that all you need to use Quest anytime and anywhere is the headset and just the headset alone. The Quest line of headsets offer a strong immersive experience, as well as the bonus that it's affordable, with the Meta Quest 3S starting at $400 USD. If you have a bit more budget, you can spring for the Meta Quest 3, the slightly beefier flagship. It has similar features to the Meta Quest 3s but has unique lenses and screens.
Even for those new to VR, the Quest line's onboarding steps are intuitive, effective, and actually quite fun. Getting used to the controls, setting up your boundaries, and navigating the virtual environment is quite enjoyable, which is another added pro for this headset. The included controllers are a fantastic way for any viewer to interact with a VR scene. With Yulio, we even have developed an app for Quest devices, and you can use the controllers to interact with text, audio, and image hotspots in the scene.
Featured Image Credit: Future
