Ah, so Meta’s back at it with their next smart glasses! Collaborating with EssilorLuxottica again, they’re giving us the Oakley Meta — in case you didn’t guess. I remember when Ray-Ban Meta dropped back in ’23, and here we go again. But really, who would’ve thought they’d name it HSTN (you say it like “How-stuhn” apparently)? It’s funny, isn’t it? Naming things is half the battle, maybe more.
Pre-orders pop up on July 11th, for a limited edition no less. $499, with all the fancy bits — gold accents and 24K PRIZM lenses. Why the gold? Not sure, but hey, it sounds flashy. And if you’re anything like me, that’s enough to make your wallet twitch.
So there’s this image, probably taken to make the glasses look like the next best thing. Must’ve been quite the photoshoot. Anyway, Meta says (or whispers, you know how these companies do) that the rest of their collection arrives “later this summer.” Starting at $399, you get frames and lens choices like:
– Desert shades with PRIZM Ruby Lenses
– Classic Black with PRIZM Polar Black Lenses (I mean, of course)
– Shiny Brown with PRIZM Polar Deep-Water Lenses
– And, well, a few others…
The promise isn’t just wrapped in color, it’s also about better batteries and sharper videos. Remember Ray-Ban Meta? These claim a “3K video” from a 12MP camera, whatever that exactly entails. Ray-Ban capped out much lower, although I might just be missing the details here. Oakley claims up to 8 hours of typical use. Should we believe them? Possibly. But who really knows till you test it on a long day out, right?
And there’s more — charging cases! Because extra juice is always a good thing. It jumps from Ray-Ban’s 32 hours to 48. Some magic trick, or just clever engineering?
On tech-the-most-human-human angle, they’ve thrown in about five mics. Calls and Meta AI chats? Absolutely. Plus, music — always a priority with those speakers that hover near your ears.
Ah, water resistance talk… IPX4. Which is just a fancy way to say don’t drop them in the pool. Splashes, rain, and sweat? Sure. But, ocean diving? Not today.
Rolling out to a bunch of places — the US, UK, France, Italy — the list goes on. Mexico, India, and UAE have to wait a bit, though. If your excitement’s through the roof already, you can poke around for pre-order buzz via Meta or Oakley.
There we go, messy journey through smart glasses land, served with a side of chaos.
