Meta Glasses, what do people think

Check out these podcasts by AppleVis, these were done by a blind user during real world situations. Hope they are useful for you.

https://www.applevis.com/podcasts/review-ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses
https://www.applevis.com/podcasts/exploring-latest-feature-additions-ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses

Hey! I've howned the Rayban meta second gen for ten days now and am really happy with it! It is still far from perfect and I'm using it more as an entertainment device for now, because I can listen to music all the time and use it as an assistant to listen and reply to Whatsapp messages, listen to Google maps instructions while the phone is in my pocket while I'm walking on the street with someone sighted, the most important thing is that it doesn't block your hears so that you can understand your surroundings and interact with the people around you while still having a great distraction at the same time.
I haven't tested live AI because it's not available in Brazil yet, but the new features are coming fast and I'm sure that next year we will start to see the integration with many more Apps, since Meta already announced that the sdk is available for developers so that they have access to all the sensors, mic and camera. Imagine having a full integration with the Seeing AI App for example. That would be a dream come true!
Also I'm even using the glasses to record a few videos and when I show them to sighted friends they say that it's perfect, so much better compared to using the iPhone to record, since the glass is already in your head, so you just have to look to where you want"in order to focus.
You can also call someone on Whatsapp while the phone is in your pocket and enable the camera so that the sighted person can look at where you want and can help you find something.
The full experience make these glasses much more future proof compared to all other options, especially because I use Whatsapp all the time, and as far as I understand, no other Glass has the possibility of replying to messages without touching the phone.
Lastly, Meta AI is replying to my requests really quick, takes 2 to 3 seconds to receive the description when I ask it to look and describe.

I Have the first gen Meta Ray-bans. I like them a lot, but they aren't perfect.

They have lots of cool non-blind features like taking photos and videos, listening to various music services, live translation (although I've not had much luck with that) and so on.

I've actually got a lot more from taking photos and recording little videos than I expected. It's not something I did much when I could see, but now it's right on my face anyway and just a button tap or voice command away, I've found myself doing it from time to time. The sound in the videos is really good - I was listening back to them using my Apple TV and surround system and was pretty impressed.

You can send photos to someone with just a voice command. E.g. you can say "hey meta, send photo to xx using WhatsApp" and it will take a photo and do that. Or you can say "Hey Meta call xx on WhatsApp" to start a call, then double tap the camera button and your caller can see what you see. That is pretty awesome.

As they are bluetooth speakers, you can hear VoiceOver coming out of them when you use your phone. Bear in mind if people are near you they may be able to hear as the sound is quite leaky but it's fine for most things.

You can start a Be My Eyes call just by asking Meta. I've not done this but it's great it is there.

Then there is the AI. Like all AIs, it is not to be trusted with your life. It is pretty good for low stakes things like reading labels, as long as the consequences of a mistake aren't going to be fatal. Or it can describe scenes quite nicely. I used them to find my wife's secret biscuit stash so I would say it was worth it just for that.

I don't do this, but you could use it to read your post and many people seem to enjoy that. Probably not a good idea to get it to read bank statements or hospital letters, though. With all AI stuff, who knows what happens to our data.

The Ai is also pretty nice if you go out somewhere and want to ask what buildings are or to give you extra facts. Honestly it is really nice to feel like the one with knowledge as opposed to having no clue where we are or what is around without being told.

There are a few other features like being able to get the time, set timers, ask where you are, what the weather is or just the normal random facts you might ask a smart speaker.

The battery life on my gen 1s is fine. If I am out for the day I will take the case with me and I can charge it up over coffee or lunch. The gen 2s are supposedly much better so will likely last you the day depending on what you do.

My main issue with them may be more to do with my mobile provider than anything, but I find they lose connectivity a lot. It is incredibly disappointing when you go somewhere only to have them refuse to respond to anything at all.

Also bear in mind you get all the features in the US, but if you are elsewhere then please check that what you want is available. I live in the UK and get loads of features but there are also some things missing like the live chat feature.

There is no offline functionality like OCR. There has been the suggestion that apps like Seeing AI may be able to gain access to the camera sometime next year, which may provide that (albeit not hands free to start with). But never buy something like this just on the promise of what may or may not come in the future.

I've not used other glasses. I was tempted by the Ally glasses until I used the app and I thought the experience was awful. Not only was the AI just wrong about most things it delivered its responses in a slightly petulant, sarcastic fashion that I found really grating. Some people like it, but it needs to at least get its facts right. So on day one I am unconvinced they would be better. Who knows about the future though.

There's also Echo Vision which sound interesting but are US only so no use to me right now.

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and comments about the glasses. Another thing to consider when comparing the Meta glasses to the other options like the Solos, Envision, Rokid and many more is the montly subscription as well as the slow response times. I was also curious to test the Ally App. I live in Brazil. there's a delay of sometimes more than 5 seconds prior to getting a response. this is definitelly unacceptable for me. Plus to use the Ally as far as I understand you still need to have the App open even if the phone is locked in your pocket there are more steps involved. You can't just remove the glasses from the case, take a photo and send it on Whatsapp. With the sdk open for the developers the Meta Glass is still miles ahead of the other options in my opinion.

The Meta AI is generally very problematic. You’ll get some basic things done. For the most part I would say it’s a waste of time. Give it another couple of years. Some really good stuff will be coming out at that point. For now, it’s just cash grabs.

You do have to have the Meta AI app open all the time with the glasses. I think some stuff like taking photos and videos probably works without it but most things need it.. I just leave it open all the time in the background.

The Ally app can be used without a subscription so I suspect the glasses can be too. But the functionality does get limited. For starters you can't personalise the AI. Maybe that's why they make the defaults so annoying, so that you are forced to subscribe.

I don't agree that this is a waste of time. It all depends on what you are wanting them for. You need to temper your expectations a little.

If you are expecting to throw away the white cane and have the glasses directing you over busy roads, then maybe you aren't going to last very long. If you want to sit there and have it read a whole book to you then, also, maybe that's a bit optimistic. If you are wanting it to help you with your medication then definitely don't be doing that.

But it does allow me to do a few things by myself without having to hold out the phone, and it does sometimes add a little colour to my day. So I appreciate it more for the little things than the life changing things.

But they do more than just the AI things anyway, so if those things also appeal then they are very much worth the time. I remember once I was trying to figure out where the post man had put a parcel. I ended up calling mrs grieves on whatsapp and she noticed that he had thrown it in a bush. I was able to use both hands to find it. Yes I could have used my phone's camera but having two hands was pretty helpful. I would never have found it on my own. And now I could use Be My Eyes to do the same thing.

It will be interesting to see what happens next year when we get the fruits of the SDK. We should be able to use the camera for Seeing AI and a load of other things. Definitely don't buy the glasses for that reason as we don't know exactly if/when this will happen. But it could be very helpful.

While I have not spent too much time on this, we can theoretically use the app on our smart phones to mimic a lot of what the glasses can do with the Meta AI app.

For what it's worth to you, I am sorry that you have had such a crap experience with the Meta smart glasses. They really can be a wonderful and quite liberating device. The next generation are reportedly even better, with longer battery, waterproof features, wraparound frame option, better speakers, and a more powerful camera.