There’s something undeniably cool about the idea of having a camera built into your sunglasses. Maybe it’s the inner spy fantasy, maybe it’s the promise of a true point-of-view shot – seeing almost exactly what you see, hands-free, with zero interruption to the moment. Anyway, I’ve always been drawn to camera glasses, even back when the concept was still more novelty than truly functional tech.

Years ago, I had the first generation of Snapchat Spectacles. They looked fun and filmed in a way that was… well, let’s say “experimental.” Videos were shot in this strange circular format with a fisheye effect – you knew right away they come from the spectacles, maybe cute for quick social media clips, but not exactly cinematic. Still, I loved the attempt. The glasses were waterproof, which made them cool for a quick pool dive and they were ready for adventure. No voice commands, no music, and definitely no answering your “what’s the weather like?” curiosity. They were, at best, a wearable camera with a Snapchat filter on top.

Enter the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses.

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses

This new generation feels like a leap forward. Not only do they look like classic Ray-Bans (so you don’t feel like a cyborg in public), but they also come with serious upgrades. You can talk to them. Ask them questions. (Limited in the UAE by all means, but you still can). Play music and audiobooks, and still be aware of your surroundings. And yes, capture photos and videos with just a voice command or a subtle touch. The audio quality is surprisingly decent, and they’ve done a good job keeping the tech subtle enough, even though you’re walking around with obvious blinking lights on your face.

Camera

Of course, as a photographer, the first thing that I am interested in is the camera quality.
Equipped with a 12MP ultra-wide angle camera, the glasses capture high-resolution photos and 1080p videos for up to 3 minutes. You can either press on the side button short-press to capture a photo, long-press for a video, or just tell the Ray-Ban Metas to start recording. The photos are decent-enough (though very wide-angle) during the day, but the videos are truly spectacular.

Even though there’s no stabilizer in the camera, if you move your head like a calm, well-trained documentary penguin, you can actually get pretty cinematic footage. Just don’t sneeze mid-shot or you’ll send your viewers on a motion sickness journey.

Also, the format of the photos and videos is a bit weird – vertical 3:4, not narrow enough for stories, not exactly fitting on the instagram feed either. But you can make it work.

Audio and Microphone

It’s kinda very 21 century that you can answer calls with your sunglasses. You can even do a livestream (I haven’t tried ,and apparently battery would only last 30 mins). You can listen to music and still hear what someone next to you is trying to say (this doesn’t work so nicely when you don’t want to hear). In general, I’d say the audio quality is definitely not Bose, there is no bass and the music definition won’t make the hair on your hands stand, but it’s good enough for audiobooks. And if the loud truck is passing by you, you can always just cover your ears to hear everything properly.

The microphone is very clear and captures sound nicely even if you are in the wind or on the boat.

Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Design

I always loved the Wayfarers design and I feel it suits most people, but there are other options if you don’t feel like this one is for you.

The charging case/cover is also lovely – brown (fake?) leather, not too heavy.

The glasses themselves are also not too heavy, but with all the technology packed inside of course they do weight something. Around 50 grams apparenly.

AI Features

The AI in the Ray-Ban Meta glasses is like having a slightly distracted but enthusiastic intern living on your face. You can ask it things like, “What’s the weather?” or “Take a photo,” and it usually delivers – unless it’s having an existential crisis about being a pair of sunglasses.

I don’t know if there is anyone who would really buy these glasses for the AI features (also, they are so limited in the UAE). But maybe it could be a help for visually impaired, or if the translation functions work well, would be cool. I have no way of checking it.

Also, I think you can’t use these glasses in any way (apart from being actual glasses) once you are separated from your phone.

Downsides of Ray-Ban Meta Glasses

Battery and Storage Capacity

Any technology that is compact and wearable usually sucks at battery life. So far, I have never ran out of battery completely, but it is also dangerous to spend so much time outside. The alleged life span of one charge of a battery is about 4 hours max, or 3 hours recording heavily. Also, if you are going to make videos non-stop, you probably going to run out of storage after about 1,5 hours. I can’t tell you for sure, because I haven’t gotten there once. But I would imagine people complaining for not having enough of both.

Privacy

Now here’s where things get a bit Black Mirror.

Let’s talk privacy. Because while it’s all fun and futuristic until someone starts filming you without your consentbv – just by looking at you. Unlike a phone camera, which is obvious enough that people at least pretend to act natural or annoyed, smart glasses can record video with a tiny light indicator most people don’t even notice. Especially when it so bright outside like in Dubai. That means someone could be silently capturing your every awkward taco bite or beach nap without you ever knowing. Creepy? Yes. Potentially lawsuit-worthy? Also yes.

Then there’s the elephant in the algorithm: Meta.

These aren’t just smart glasses. They’re Meta’s smart glasses. The same Meta that already knows what you googled at 3 a.m., what ads make you spend, and how many times you watched that reel of a cat falling into a bathtub. Now, they also get to see what you see. If you use the voice assistant, upload your footage, or live stream, you’re essentially feeding Meta a raw, unfiltered POV of your life – like giving it front row seats to your daily routine, minus the popcorn.

So yes, the tech is cool. But so is remembering to blink and maybe not stream your entire existence to the Zuck-cloud without thinking it through.

Delay with Capturing Footage

Even though you’d think that the glasses are ever-ready to start filming and taking photos, there is a couple of seconds delay after you Hey Meta’d it or pressed the button. So you need to learn to anticipate when to press.

Hair in The Frame

If you are a woman or a man with a bit of a fringe (bangs), most probably that hair will be flying around the camera while you are trying to film something. Also, since the lens is placed on the left side of your face, you have to keep it in mind and keep your head slightly turned to the right when trying to frame it properly.

Lack Of Weather-Sealing

I never much cared for weather-sealing in my cameras or tech, since we don’t get to have much rain here… but when you wear it on your face? There is for sure sweat in summer, there is no getting away from it. And you have to be very careful about wearing those to the pool or in the sea, because they’re not waterproof. And I’ll be honest – that’s a little disappointing. After all, the beauty of wearable tech is that you want it to fit seamlessly into real life. And real life includes sweat, accidental rain, or jumping into the sea because you just caught a shark (true story, by the way).

Bottom Line

I’m genuinely loving these glasses, even if they occasionally try to slide off my face like a dramatic actor exiting stage – thanks to a mix of sweat and their not-so-featherlight frame. Still, they’re fun, they’re futuristic, and they bring a whole new way of capturing life from my own POV.

I mostly use them to film Instagram reels about street photography, fun little adventures, and, of course, chaotic cat moments. Plus, they’ve basically become my daily audiobook companions while I’m out and about. It’s incredibly handy having a camera just a click (or a “Hey Meta”) away, even if there’s a tiny delay that reminds you this is still version 1.5 of the future.

And yes, I fully embrace my inner spy. Thanks to the classic Ray-Ban design, most people never realize there’s a camera hidden behind my lenses – which makes it all the more fun. Just don’t sneeze while filming. That POV footage gets weird fast.

Examples

Thanks for stopping by. Now tell me, would you be joining in on the wearable tech trend, or do you prefer spying old-school style?