The Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 glasses are very good smart glasses. If you’re into face computers, these will do what you want them to do. They snap pictures, record video, play music, and take calls. You can use AI voice commands to find your way around, translate foreign languages live, or inquire about what kind of spider happens to be dangling right in front of your face at the moment.
The $379 frames are Meta’s entry-level smart glasses, and a direct successor to the original that became a smash hit. They are $80 more expensive than their predecessor, but what you get in return is a better 12-MP camera capable of capturing photos and videos at up to 3K resolution. There are also options for recording up to 60 frames per second and shooting videos in slow motion. Battery life also gets a big bump, extending to eight hours of various use, but more like five or six with constant use or less if you’re recording high-def video the whole time. (The glasses record a maximum of three minutes at a time.)
For most people, the affordability and relative simplicity of the Gen 2 frames are going to make them the most appealing Meta glasses. They don’t have quite the GoPro-esque camera capabilities of the $499 Oakley Meta Vanguards, which my colleague Adrienne So liked a lot. They also don’t have a display in the lens, like the $799 Meta Ray Ban Display. (We have not been able to review the Display glasses yet because Meta said it prioritized sending review units to “creators,” i.e., influencers.)
Glass Ceiling
Photograph: Boone Ashworth
I have been using the Gen 2 smart glasses for about a month. Meta handed them out for free to the journalists and influencers at its Connect developer event in Palo Alto in September, and I've been wearing them since then. These feel a lot like the previous pair of Ray-Ban Meta glasses I've used. They weigh about the same and offer many of the same visual styles, though there are a few new colors to choose from. (I got cosmic blue.)