Way back in June of this year, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel revealed the company's Specs — a pair of AR glasses that he described as the beginning of a "new era of computing."
At the time, an official launch date was not released, but now they're here.
As a reminder, Specs are something of a mashup between Meta's Ray-Ban AI glasses and a VR headset. They feature two Snapdragon processors built into the glasses. They do come with a hefty starting price of $2,195.
“We’ve seen these different shifts in computing happen, and we see a shift is coming,” Russell Patton product manager for Specs at Snap told Tom's Guide in an interview. “Going forward, it’s going to be that shift from phones to glasses, and I think it’s not just taking the apps that are on our phones and putting them into glasses.”
Specs "specs"
Form factor |
Fully standalone augmented reality glasses |
Build material |
Swiss TR90 polymer |
Sizes & weights |
132 grams (47mm model) and 136 grams (52mm model) |
Display |
Proprietary waveguide displays with 51-degree field of view, support for 16 million colors |
Lenses |
Electrochromic lenses (10-second transition time to tinted) with prescription support |
Processors |
Dual Snapdragon processors (1x computer vision, 1x AR lenses) |
Tracking |
Hand tracking and spatial mapping, 7ms response time |
Battery |
4 hours on one charge, up to 20 hours when used with the case |
Alongside the Specs, Snap also announced a charging case that has cellular connectivity. The company is partnering with Verizon on the cellular connection, meaning you'll need a data plan with Verizon to access the feature.
What do Specs do
Like a VR headset, Specs lets you work (and play) in virtual spaces from using shared whiteboards to watching YouTube and shopping in 3D spaces that let you place objects in the real world. Or you can put navigation cues on the displays that map to the world as you explore.
At the same time, they're akin to AI glasses in that you can take Bluetooth calls, control your music and utilize live translation.
Snap promoted the glasses as a learning tool with apps built in collaboration with the NBA and WNBA that help you learn how to shoot a basketball, or apps that analyze your golf swing. These features and apps Snap calls Lenses. Other learning experiences include 3D exploration of the solar system or constellations.
These glasses do have cameras and Snap spokespeople claimed that an LED light will show when the glasses are recording. A burgeoning privacy concern for smart glasses and recording clearly has Snap worried about getting the pervert glasses label.
" SPECS do not use facial recognition to identify people. SPECS do not record the world to understand it, and don't continuously record or save audio, video, or photos," Snap said in a press release.
And like everything, AI is a big part of what Snap is producing.
Snap Intelligence
Snap OS, which runs the glasses, already features AI. Like most AI promises, its supposed to see what you're looking at, understand the context and help you "in the moment."
But, Snap also has what it calls an "anticipatory AI service" dubbed Snap Intelligence, which takes that AI makes it accessible across multiple devices from your iPhone and MacBook back to the Specs. It's designed to carry "personal context" across your devices.
In some cases, it is supposed to anticipate your needs and act without a prompt. Snap promises that security is paramount and Snap personnel can't see your personal information or content.
You can choose what apps connect to Snap Intelligence like your calendar, email and notes. And it is supposed to ask before it does anything, prompting you to confirm a choice.
You don't need Specs to try out Snap Intelligence.
Price and availability
If the price doesn't scare you away, you can pre-order the Snap Specs today at specs.com for $2,195 with a $200 refundable deposit.
There is a bundle with the cellular charging case that costs $2,395. To get the cellular, you'll need a Verizon plan that starts at $10 per month for Verizon customers and $20 per month for non-Verizon customers.
Snap expects to ship the glasses in the US, UK and France starting this fall.
If you live or are visiting Los Angeles, you can check out the glasses at Westfield Century City mall at a Snap popup starting October 1. We were told that some Verizon locations will have hands-on experiences but not which ones or when.
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