My first two days wearing Meta's bleeding-edge Ray-Ban Display glasses, which just went on sale for $799, feel about as alien and fascinating as any tech experience I've had. At times I've experienced magic, at other times frustration. And it's filling me with questions.
After an eye-opening demo a few weeks ago at Meta Connect, I unboxed my own pair of glasses at home, paired the included neural wristband, and dove in. The glasses are hard to find, even if you're ready to buy a pair, but I'm really excited to test them myself. Here are my starting thoughts in advance of a full review. The future feels full of possibilities.
The $799 Ray-Ban Display glasses are impressively designed, and full of things we're likely to see in future glasses. Scott Stein/CNET
That neural wristband is everything
The glasses are a lot like Meta's current Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses, but with an added layer of screen interaction controlled by a gesture-sensitive wristband. That screen can be summoned with a double-tap of my middle finger and thumb, and controlled with more gestures.
My two hands now: watch on left, gesture-controlliing Neural Band on right. (Shot on Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and cropped.) Scott Stein/CNET
The high-res heads-up screen in one eye reminds me of Google Glass, which I tested way back in 2013, but the wristband sets Meta's glasses apart. It uses electromyography to measure neural impulses on my wrist with an array of electrodes and respond to my hand gestures. That's the part that makes this all feel next-level, something you'd want to show off to your friends.
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I worried that the gestures would be hard to remember after my first demo, but I've adjusted in a day. The trick is that these taps, finger swipes and wrist turns are all done with just one hand. Picking an app on the heads-up display means swiping with your thumb on your curled fist, then tapping with both fingers to select. The scrolls feel weird, and I wish I could just glance at something and tap.
The glasses are chunky yet stylish, IMHO
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