There’s a lot to like about wearing a pair of smart glasses.The screen is actually very cool and useful. When using Google Maps, the glasses displayed turn-by-turn instructions that were ideal for navigating a crowded city like Manhattan, where looking down at your phone for too long may result in bumping into someone. The screen was also useful for cooking. I’d ask Meta AI to suggest recipes based on the ingredients in front of me, and it would give me a list of options that I could swipe through — when I’d tap into each one, I could read through the ingredients and step-by-step instructions.The most impressive feature is live captions. When they’re enabled, you’ll see a transcription appear on the display as someone is speaking to you in real time. I tested it while watching TV shows, movies, and YouTube videos and also while out to dinner with my roommate in a crowded restaurant. It mostly works well — the transcriptions were accurate the majority of the time, and they were capable of keeping up with different talking speeds. There were some moments, however, where it worked a little too well, like when it would catch parts of private conversations of people next to me, who were unaware I had the feature turned on.Although I didn’t use live captions often, it helped emphasize how great a device this could be for accessibility purposes. People who are hard of hearing or deaf can use live captions for a variety of situations and as a potential alternative for hearing aids when necessary: at the movie theater when closed captioning isn’t available, at noisy restaurants, on video calls, and more. Using the built-in display, you can use features like live captions or live translations to see written transcriptions based on who you’re speaking to. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterThe glasses also support live translations in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Similar to live captions, you’ll be able to see the translations appear on the screen in real time as you’re having a conversation. I tested this feature over FaceTime with two friends who speak Spanish, and it worked well. Both of them were pleasantly surprised by how accurately it translated their words, and I didn’t experience a lag on the display. As with most live translation features, the translations are more literal and don’t read as naturally as the person sounds — but I understood the gist of what they were saying.The feature isn’t entirely seamless though. In one instance, I received a notification that the feature was force-quitting to avoid overheating, which happened within the first five minutes of testing it out. It also requires a certain amount of battery life — I couldn’t see translations after the glasses dropped to 23%. You also have to make sure your phone is nearby. You can’t access the feature on the glasses unless you also have it open on the Meta AI app (you’ll see a transcript appear in real time as both parties are speaking, and you can access it later) and the specific language you need is downloaded.They look like a normal pair of glasses. The Meta Ray Ban Display Glasses are available in two sizes (standard or large) and two colors (brown and black), both of which feature transition lenses for when you’re in the sun. At a glance, the glasses can pass for a regular pair of frames, especially compared with other smart glasses, some of which look like more-obvious tech devices. Meta’s version essentially looks like a chunkier pair of the classic Ray-Ban Wayfarer. When I walked down the street wearing them, I didn’t experience any weird stares, and no one ever questioned me about them when I was out in public.The material feels high-end and sleek, and the sensors blend in nicely. But the chunkier frames won’t be to everyone’s taste (they aren’t to mine).The neural band is comfortable, and the gestures are responsive. The band you have to wear to control the glasses isn’t stylish, but it’s comfortable and lightweight enough that I often forgot I was wearing it on my wrist.Even though the gestures themselves can be confusing, the band works really well to register each one, complete with a gentle vibration to confirm. It was able to pick up each one successfully, regardless of whether I had my hands in my pockets, at my sides, or even behind my back. The neural band is lightweight and comfortable, but the gestures aren’t very easy to memorize. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterI appreciated this most when I was out in public, where I wanted to avoid any strange looks because I was waving my hands around in the air. Sometimes I was able to navigate the menus or notifications without the people I was with even noticing.It takes good-enough photos and videos (you’ll still want your smartphone camera). Built into the right side of the glasses is a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera with 3x zoom. A short press of the button takes a photo, while a long press records a video. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterWhen you open the camera app, you’ll see the viewfinder appear in the lens, and you can tap the camera button to snap the shot or tap the record icon to shoot videos. Unlike the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which require importing photos and videos to the Meta app to view them, the display allows you to scroll through your gallery immediately after.Although the camera delivers clear shots, they’re more comparable to what you’d capture on a budget smartphone camera — the quality is slightly grainy and washed out, and it struggles in low light. And, because the camera is on the side of the glasses, it sometimes captures content at an awkward side angle if you don’t take the time to center your subject.But I was still fairly impressed by the quality of what I captured, even when zooming in. It’s not the device I’d use for important moments that warrant high-resolution photos, and I didn’t post any of the photos to my Instagram story or grid without additional editing. But it’s fine for shooting quick, candid shots in real time. The Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses come with an indicator light to alert those around you that you’re using the glasses to take a photo or record a video. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterThe glasses come with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, which holds about 1,000 photos or up to 100 30-second clips. You can share what you capture through the glasses right from the display as well, with the option to send them to your contacts on WhatsApp or Messenger or to upload them as an Instagram story. To free up space, you can import your content to the Meta AI app over Wi-Fi.They’re solid for listening to music and taking phone calls. The glasses have open-ear speakers and a six-mic array for interacting with Meta AI, listening to music, or talking on the phone.I’m someone who almost always has their earbuds in, mainly to listen to audiobooks and podcasts and to make phone calls. I didn’t mind using these glasses as a replacement for my AirPods Pro while commuting — the audio quality was clear, and they were loud enough in noisier environments like on the subway or a crowded store. The mics work well, too. I never had trouble interacting with Meta AI or the live captions feature. And whenever I used it to talk on the phone with family or friends, I never received any complaints that they couldn’t hear me clearly, either. If you don’t want to use the neural band, you can also navigate the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses by using the touchpad on the side. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterThese glasses do have an adaptive volume feature, which automatically adjusts the volume based on your environment, but it didn’t work all that well for me when enabled. In the future, I would like to see Meta add a feature similar to Conversation Awareness on Apple’s AirPods, which lowers the volume when it senses that you’re talking. While it’s easy to lower the volume using gestures and the neural band, it didn’t always work as quickly as I needed it to.Flaws that are also dealbreakersAfter the novelty of navigating my way around New York City without a map open on my phone wore off, I started to realize that smart glasses still have some big issues.They’re too heavy to wear all day. While they look like normal glasses at a glance, the frames are way too thick to be comfortable. I was constantly distracted by the bezels, which felt like they were taking up most of my line of sight the majority of the time. It was a huge departure from the thin-wire frames I usually wear and an even bigger adjustment from wearing contacts.And they’re extremely heavy. The standard size weighs 69 grams (the larger size is only a gram heavier). Whenever I’d wear them for too long, I’d start to feel pain in my temples and also behind my ears (where the arms of the glasses rest). I’d come home after wearing them for a only few hours and take Advil to ease my throbbing headache. With built-in speakers and microphones on the arms of the glasses, you can use them to listen to music and audiobooks and to take calls. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterThe weight also caused them to slide down my nose a lot. I constantly had to push them back up, which only added to the discomfort. This was particularly annoying when I tried to use the glasses to guide me through recipes. They slipped off my nose whenever I had to face down to chop vegetables or combine ingredients in a bowl.These aren’t designed to be your primary glasses. But given how much they cost, I want to be able to wear them comfortably for more than a few hours at a time if I need to. If you wear them with prescription lenses, you’ll likely always have to have a spare pair of standard glasses handy.Prescription options are limited. If you wear glasses daily, you can purchase the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses with prescription lenses. But there’s a caveat: The eligible prescription range is -4.00 to +4.00. At -4.50 in the right eye and -4.50 in the left, I was unfortunately ineligible for prescription lenses. This meant I had to wear the smart glasses with contact lenses every time. Prescription options are limited, so in order to wear these, I had to use contacts. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterMeta’s other smart glasses, such as the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer and Oakley Meta glasses, have far more customization options when it comes to Rx lenses. You can choose from different levels of thickness (depending on how strong your prescription is) and treatments.Meta AI is hit or miss. Like my colleague Caira Blackwell, who tested the Ray-Ban Meta glasses (the ones without an in-lens screen), I found that Meta’s AI assistant wasn’t that useful. To start, I often had to rephrase the same question or command because Meta couldn’t understand what I was asking the first time.I got the best results when I asked simple questions, like about the weather, and had simple requests, like pulling up directions to my go-to nail salon or playing a certain song on Spotify. But it struggled when I got slightly more specific, and I ended up taking my phone out every time.When I asked Meta to show me movie times for Sentimental Value near me, the audio accurately listed showings at theaters near my apartment, but the display showed directions to True Value — the hardware store. When I asked for directions to the nearest coffee shop in midtown Manhattan, it directed me to one that was “temporarily closed” on Google. When I requested the best restaurants near me, it left out the one with the highest number of reviews and the highest rating. The Google Maps feature is in beta, so that could be the reason I ran into issues.It doesn’t have the best battery life, and it requires two separate chargers. The Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses have a 248 mAh battery built in, which Meta claims will last for up to six hours of mixed use. I consistently reached almost three hours with continuous use. The neural band has a claimed battery life of up to 18 hours, which should last you a few days with mixed use. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterThe neural band, on the other hand, has a 134 mAh battery and promises up to 18 hours of battery life. I could wear it for a few days without charging, while the glasses required near-constant charging.The glasses charge when placed in the included charging case. Once you snap them into the case, the LED light will turn orange to signal that they’re charging. When they’re fully charged, it’ll turn green. The case packs up to 30 hours of use, which makes it easy to charge the glasses on the go. However, the neural band requires a proprietary charger. It looks similar to the charging dock you’d use with one of Fitbit’s fitness trackers, complete with two pins that attach to the band magnetically. The case can be charged via a USB-C cable, but that means you have to carry two different chargers. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterThe fact that the neural band’s battery lasts longer than the glasses means it’s easy to forget about the charging dock. I learned this the hard way when I accidentally left it at my parents’ house in New Jersey over Thanksgiving. The glasses case is much easier to remember.You can’t use many third-party apps. As a Meta product, the glasses are designed to keep you locked into Meta-owned apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram — all of which come preinstalled on the glasses. Meta also integrated a few third-party apps, including Google Maps for navigation and Google Calendar or Outlook for upcoming calendar events. You can also stream audio from Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Audible, Shazam, and iHeart. But you don’t have access to an app store, so your choices are limited.The glasses are compatible with iOS and Android, so you can receive and answer text messages and make calls as long as the glasses are tethered to your phone. But without a virtual keyboard, you can only use the suggested replies that pop up when you open a text or use the dictation feature. The suggested replies never truly conveyed what I wanted to say, so I used the dictation feature instead.The gestures are hard to memorize. Before owning a pair of these glasses, I sat through two separate demos — both of which walked me through the different hand gestures for controlling the glasses. To this day, I’m still struggling to remember them all. The neural band comes in three sizes, and you can easily adjust each one. Ruthie Darling/NYT WirecutterEven though they do work, you have to memorize a lot. Most of the time, I’d second-guess whether I should tap my index finger or middle finger to my thumb to go back, or I’d accidentally trigger Meta AI instead of the launcher. Whenever I’d lose my patience (which was a lot) trying to remember the right gesture to get to the main menu or my notifications to answer a text, I would give up and use voice commands or the touchpad instead. These didn’t always work as intended (the touchpad requires memorizing a different set of gestures), but it was a useful backup option.Consider the privacy concerns. Meta doesn’t have the best reputation for protecting its users’ data; when the company was known as Facebook, it handed over personal data to British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica without user consent. Since then, it’s not uncommon for people to have questions or concerns about Meta products. That’s not to mention the inherent issues with devices that can discreetly photograph or record people without their knowledge (although those same issues exist with smartphones).
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