02 November 2023 · Smart Glasses
I Wore the Ray-Ban Metas to Dinner and Watched the Table Change
A camera on your face is never only your decision. My friends voted before I did.
My brother lent me his Ray-Ban Metas for a fortnight, and the most interesting thing happened at a long dinner, before I had taken a single photo. Someone asked, gently, whether the glasses were on. That question is the product.
The hardware is genuinely good. Since the September 2023 launch they have grown into a comfortable, familiar frame with a 12MP camera, tidy open-ear sound and the Meta AI voice features. As a way to grab a memory without digging out a phone, they work.
But I gave them back early. I did not dislike them; I disliked who I became at that table, slightly more performer than guest. I want a wearable that makes me more present, not one that makes everyone wonder what I am keeping. That is a strange, human thing to ask of a gadget, and it is the thing I cannot stop asking.