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Being someone in the AR space, I find this a smart but risky move. If they're marked right and become "cool" I'll definitely have to cop a pair (and at $130 the

Being someone in the AR space, I find this a smart but risky move. If they're marked right and become "cool" I'll definitely have to cop a pair (and at $130 they're almost disposable). Spectacles will make it way easier for me to post to Snapchat at parties/concerts/etc without having to break out of the moment by taking my phone out. Strategy-wise, this is a Trojan horse into the AR hardware space, which Evan has wanted to get into for years. However, they fit way better into Snap's image of being a media company vs. directly launching an AR headset.

tluyben2 10y ago
The site seems blocked here (China) but if I read the comments, how is it AR? What more does it do than make a picture when you tap your temple? Is there any augmenting of reality going on, because then $130 would be 'free'.
- rawnlq 10y ago
  Snapchat has a lot of cool tech for video augmentation (Lenses: https://support.snapchat.com/en-US/a/lenses1 https://support.snapchat.com/en-US/a/lenses1). If they simply live stream the video from the glasses to the phone and do the same augmentation, I think that counts as AR.
  - mgiannopoulos 10y ago
    But you're supposed to be looking forward and not on your phone.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    It counts as AR but not AR glasses which makes this product not very interesting... You don't need the glasses as you still need to look at your phone which would give me kind of a neck ache trying to look at my phone to see what my glasses are seeing?
- mgiannopoulos 10y ago
  Indeed , there is no screen like Glass had. This is just a camera strapped on a frame.
- josephpmay 10y ago
  I guess I wasn't very clear with my comment. These glasses aren't in any way AR, but if people get used to wearing Snap electronics on their face, it will be natural for them to move into the AR market
notatoad 10y ago
If i were in the AR space, i'd be very excited by this. Snapchat, probably more than any other company, has the potential to make wearing technology on your face socially acceptable. Google did not, microsoft doesn't, no unknown startup does, but there's a good chance that these glasses could do it.
lucb1e 10y ago
> at $130 they're almost disposable Welcome to real world prices. This is definitely not disposable, this sounds like a good price for VR to me and I'd be careful with them. But they're not VR and VR is a lot more expensive, so that's why nobody outside the industry has one.
- josephpmay 10y ago
  An actual comparable product, GoPros, start at $200
  - lucb1e 10y ago
    True, this isn't even VR. If it only was, then it might finally become more mainstream.
    - josephpmay 10y ago
      In no way, shape, or form does this have anything to do with VR
rodgerd 10y ago
> without having to break out of the moment "Without letting people know I'm going to film them and spam them over the Internet."
- josephpmay 10y ago
  They have a giant indicator light on them. Anyone who would notice you recording on a smartphone would notice on spectacles Also, it only records 10 seconds of video at a time, and the video only gets sent out to my friends, not all over the internet
thomasi 10y ago
Had to scroll down pretty far to get to something about valuing the AR real estate here! Grabbing mainstream users with integrated glasses/camera then moving up market seems like some weird but logical form of disruption. Snapchat's flagship app has been similar -> come in the bottom and substitute for texting photos to one another -> become the primary form of social media (user generated content, consumption, time in app?) for a broad set of social media users. Disclaimer: this coming from an avid snapchatter, hoping spectacles are a big hit.

tluyben2 10y ago

The site seems blocked here (China) but if I read the comments, how is it AR? What more does it do than make a picture when you tap your temple? Is there any augmenting of reality going on, because then $130 would be 'free'.

rawnlq 10y ago
Snapchat has a lot of cool tech for video augmentation (Lenses: https://support.snapchat.com/en-US/a/lenses1 https://support.snapchat.com/en-US/a/lenses1). If they simply live stream the video from the glasses to the phone and do the same augmentation, I think that counts as AR.
- mgiannopoulos 10y ago
  But you're supposed to be looking forward and not on your phone.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  It counts as AR but not AR glasses which makes this product not very interesting... You don't need the glasses as you still need to look at your phone which would give me kind of a neck ache trying to look at my phone to see what my glasses are seeing?
mgiannopoulos 10y ago
Indeed , there is no screen like Glass had. This is just a camera strapped on a frame.
josephpmay 10y ago
I guess I wasn't very clear with my comment. These glasses aren't in any way AR, but if people get used to wearing Snap electronics on their face, it will be natural for them to move into the AR market

notatoad 10y ago

If i were in the AR space, i'd be very excited by this. Snapchat, probably more than any other company, has the potential to make wearing technology on your face socially acceptable. Google did not, microsoft doesn't, no unknown startup does, but there's a good chance that these glasses could do it.

lucb1e 10y ago

> at $130 they're almost disposable Welcome to real world prices. This is definitely not disposable, this sounds like a good price for VR to me and I'd be careful with them. But they're not VR and VR is a lot more expensive, so that's why nobody outside the industry has one.

josephpmay 10y ago
An actual comparable product, GoPros, start at $200
- lucb1e 10y ago
  True, this isn't even VR. If it only was, then it might finally become more mainstream.
  - josephpmay 10y ago
    In no way, shape, or form does this have anything to do with VR

rodgerd 10y ago

> without having to break out of the moment "Without letting people know I'm going to film them and spam them over the Internet."

josephpmay 10y ago
They have a giant indicator light on them. Anyone who would notice you recording on a smartphone would notice on spectacles Also, it only records 10 seconds of video at a time, and the video only gets sent out to my friends, not all over the internet

thomasi 10y ago

Had to scroll down pretty far to get to something about valuing the AR real estate here! Grabbing mainstream users with integrated glasses/camera then moving up market seems like some weird but logical form of disruption. Snapchat's flagship app has been similar -> come in the bottom and substitute for texting photos to one another -> become the primary form of social media (user generated content, consumption, time in app?) for a broad set of social media users. Disclaimer: this coming from an avid snapchatter, hoping spectacles are a big hit.