Product1 publisher2 min readPublished
CNET tells $800 Ray-Ban Display buyers to wait for the technology to mature
The wristband gesture control and the in-lens display both work, according to CNET's two-week review, but the glasses have no prescription option, shorter battery life than the display-free Ray-Bans, and few apps to run.
The Product Desk · Product desk
What happened
- Meta's $800 Ray-Ban Display glasses put a single flat 2D panel in one lens, made by reflective waveguides, and ship with a wristband that reads finger gestures through electromyography.
- CNET's reviewer wore them off and on for about two weeks and tested with contact lenses, listing prescription support among the pieces still missing.
- CNET's verdict is that the glasses are less useful than a smartwatch and worse value than display-free smart glasses, with advice to wait for the technology to mature.
Compiled by The Product DeskSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- constraint Without a prescription option, the buyer has to need no correction or wear contacts for as long as the glasses are on, which rules out much of any team a pilot would be sized for.
- exposure Whoever hands these out answers for the distraction and safety question the reviewer raises, and the review describes no Meta feature that handles it.
- capability The waveguide display and the electromyography band are now testable in a shipping product, so teams can learn the interaction model without committing to this pair of frames.
The review names three things the display makes genuinely useful: assistive captioning, a maps app, and a camera viewfinder with zoom for photos and video [11]. Beyond those, what the glasses can show is capped. They cannot mirror a phone, only certain apps [9], and "few apps and phone-connected functions" sits in the cons list [9].
The control scheme is the part that holds up. The included Neural Band reads finger taps and swipes through electromyography and answers with small vibrations, so the fingers work like a mouse [3]. CNET calls the gesture controls impressive [11], and the in-lens display is not visible to anyone looking at the wearer, even when it is on [19].
The weight cost of the display is 20 grams. The Display frames come in at 69 grams against 49 for the display-free Meta Ray-Bans [6], about 41 percent heavier [7]. Battery life is shorter than on the display-free pair [8], and the band "can feel annoying to wear" [10].
The constraint that decides who can buy these is optical. CNET's reviewer is testing with contact lenses because prescription support is one of the missing pieces [5]. That leaves the addressable buyer as someone who needs no correction or is happy in contacts all day, a smaller group than the one an internal pilot gets sized for.
"Also, I have fundamental concerns about distraction and safety while wearing them," the reviewer wrote [14]. CNET does not mention any Meta feature that addresses it. Both halves of the reviewer's judgement sit in the same piece: the glasses "feel to me like a transformational gadget for life" and they "currently feel like a beta test of things to come" [16][15]. The comparison he reaches for is Google Glass, circa 2013 [17].
For a team buy, what matters is the one task that would move into the lens. The tasks that suit it are the ones that need your eyes up and forward and both hands free. Live captioning in a meeting and walking directions qualify. Reading messages and checking notifications do not need eyes up and forward, and CNET's verdict is that the glasses are less useful than a smartwatch and worse value than display-free smart glasses such as the standard Meta Ray-Bans [12]. On the hardware itself, the reviewer wrote that "you should probably wait until this impressive technology matures a bit" [13].
What to watch
- A prescription lens option, which would decide whether anyone who wears glasses can buy these at all.
- Whether Meta opens the display to phone mirroring or more third-party apps beyond the current set.
- Any distraction or safety guidance from Meta for wearing an in-lens display while walking or driving.