Three months after Meta launched its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, the company is rolling out more hands-free features.
Wearers can now send messages, hear messages read aloud, and make calls via Messenger. The shades can also control volume or pause and resume audio, all using your voice.
Whether you want to skip to the next song in a playlist or text your friend that you’re running late, simply say, “Hey Facebook,” and the appropriate command. (Or just stick with the more conspicuous tapping of the glasses’ right arm.)
The update will reach Ray-Ban Stories’ accompanying Facebook View mobile app in phases, and should be available to everyone soon, Engadget reported. “We’re just getting started,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in an announcement. “More updates to Ray-Ban Stories coming in 2022.”
The glasses, made in partnership with Italian eyewear conglomerate Luxottica, were introduced last year as a sort of stepping stone on the way to full augmented reality devices that overlay virtual objects into your field of vision.
They are available to buy with clear or sun-blocking lenses and an array of frame colors and shapes. Although the glasses snap social media-worthy images and double as headphones, they can’t yet replace a good camera phone or a pair of earbuds, according to PCMag analyst Will Greenwald, who called the glasses “a stylish all-in-one package.”
