All the important moments that make up your life can be captured on a phone and shared with others, but the next way to do that might come from eyewear.
If you’re someone who subscribes to the belief of sharing your life as much as possible, you’re probably living on Facebook or TikTok or Twitter or Insta, and uploading moments of your life with regularity.
That’s fine. That’s life today. For many of us, life is a series of interconnected moments captured from our phones, representing the things we’re seeing and experiencing individually. Connected together and viewed externally, these moments become like little tiny movies the world can watch of your life.
Short staccato moments in time showing the things that made your day, your week, your little spot in life something different and special and exciting and real.
If you live behind your phone’s camera, you know all too well what we’re talking about, but you mightn’t need to live behind your phone for much longer, and may be able to capture it from your eyes.
We’re not talking about changing your eyes or adding digital contact lenses — we’re not that far into the future — but the next best thing could be around the corner, as Facebook has come together with an eyewear company, launching the Ray-Ban Stories, a different take on capturing life.
It’s a pair of sunglasses made by Ray-Ban and modelled on its popular Wayfarer style, but the design is just one part of the package. The real fun is on the inside, with a camera on each side, a three-microphone array, and the ability to talk to your phone, capturing images and videos and letting you share your world.
Much like how you share moments from your life by holding your phone, the Ray-Ban Stories is about getting you to share moments of your life, either in still images or with videos of up to 30 seconds, and all from your eyes.
You’ll trigger it either by on a button on the side or by calling out to Facebook, and the result is stored on your phone via the Facebook View app, ready to be shared with the obvious social network — Facebook — or any other you want. Images are captured at 5 megapixels and videos just below HD in square, though because there are two cameras — one for each eye — Facebook says 3D images are possible from its system.
“Ray-Ban Stories is designed to help people live in the moment and stay connected to the people they are with and the people they wish they were with,” Andrew Bosworth, Vice President of Facebook Reality Labs.
“We’re introducing an entirely new way for people to stay connected to the world around them and truly be present in life’s most important moments, and to look good while doing it,” he said.
Ray-Ban’s Facebook glasses won’t just work as a capture device for social, mind you, as they can also do double duty as a form of earphones for your phone. Similar to the Bose Frames and Bose Frames Tenor, the Ray-Ban Stories also include speakers to let you listen to your music and podcasts using open air audio, essentially making them eyewear that can capture life and play it back to you.
They’ll also support various lenses, making them interchangeable, much like real glasses. Given they’re made by Ray-Ban (and parent company EssilorLuxottica), they are just that: proper eyewear with extra functionality.
However as such, they won’t cost what typical eyewear costs, starting from $449 a launch in Australia and available at Ray-Ban stores, Sunglass Hut, and OPSM. You’ll be able to find the Ray-Ban Stories in three styles — Wayfarer, Round, and Meteor — with different colours and lens options throughout, with the models making their way to stores across the country now.
