Without that incredible universe blue finish and almost all-day battery life, you might feel sorry for the Meta AI Ray-Ban Gen 2 smart glasses (aka Metaray-Ban Gen 2), released in the shadows of Metaray-Ban Display. But this is like comparing an apple to an orange. While Metaray-Ban Display is actually a facial smartphone, the Gen 2 glasses are a smart evolutionary leap to improve your smart glasses in most of the space you need.
I was able to spend a bit of time with the new frame and, yes, I even managed to choose my own colour. I chose Cosmic Blue (this and the Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro give it a dualing asteroid movie vibe). This will be added to the 27 new color options for Meta Smart Glasses.
The Meta Ray-Ban Gen 2 arrives in a package that has not been changed substantially since the last edition. Even leather charging cases look the same. Inside, I found a dark blue frame that was recharged and ready. Well, I needed a software update first. The frame runs on the Meta AI app and can do onboarding for the onboard Qualcomm AR CPU, but much of the work is still done in the app.
New camera tricks
Apart from the colour, the Gen 2 frames look very similar to my last pair. Meta saved most of the upgrades of internal components such as batteries and cameras.
In terms of photography, there is still a 12MP Ultra Wade camera, but now it can shoot up to 3K videos. This can double the resolution for all creators who want to show the details of their blueberry buckle recipes. Metaray-Ban Gen 2 frames do not fire 3K by default. To change it, you need to dig into the settings.
Perhaps the biggest component changes come from the battery that lasts for 8 hours on charging, thanks to the more battery shipping camera. Better yet, they charge 50% in 20 minutes in the case. It takes 75 minutes to fully charge. After about 4 hours of use, 47% of the battery remained.
In my short experience, there are still five microphones that can hear and respond to whispers. The Open-Ear stereo speakers are very good, but they cannot be compared to ANC's Bluetooth earphones.
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Meta AI gains almost continuous improvement. I think the delay between a query and an action or an answer is lower than ever. I haven't tried out new live translation features or conversational focus yet. Use a microphone to help you hear the person in front of you more clearly. For translation, Meta will add German and Portuguese later this year.
For most of the day I wore a Metaray-Ban Gen 2, pressed buttons and voice to take photos and videos, asking meta about the world in front of me. It's a great AI companion. I appreciate their polarized lenses, but without the prescription the world looked rather blurry (I sometimes tried to wear them on top of my real glasses).
Incidentally, they still cost $379/AU$689 and have 32GB of onboard storage. Would you like to buy or upgrade your Gen 2? If so, what color? Please let me know in the comments.
