Meta's Ray-Ban Gen 2 smart glasses pack impressive upgrades - better cameras, longer battery life, and sharper AI features - but they're giving users an uncomfortable feeling. Wired's month-long test reveals glasses that work exactly as promised yet leave reviewers feeling like creeps wearing face-mounted computers in public.
Meta just delivered exactly what it promised with the Ray-Ban Gen 2 smart glasses - and that's precisely the problem. The $379 frames work so well they're making people uncomfortable about the future of wearable tech.
Wired's Boone Ashworth spent a month testing the upgraded glasses after Meta handed them out at its Connect developer event in September. His verdict: technically impressive, socially unsettling. The glasses snap photos, record 3K video, play music, take calls, and respond to AI voice commands for translation or object identification. Everything works as advertised.
The hardware upgrades justify the $80 price bump from the original Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The new 12-MP camera captures photos and videos up to 3K resolution, with options for 60fps recording and slow-motion capture. Battery life jumps to 8 hours for mixed use, though heavy video recording drains it faster. Meta caps video recordings at three minutes per clip.
"If you're into face computers, these will do what you want them to do," Ashworth writes in his review. But that capability comes with an unexpected psychological cost. The glasses work so seamlessly that wearing them feels invasive, even to the person using them.
The Gen 2 sits in Meta's expanding smart glasses lineup as the entry-level option. Above it, the $499 Oakley Meta Vanguards offer more rugged camera capabilities that Wired's Adrienne So praised in her review. At the top, the $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display includes an in-lens screen for notifications and augmented reality features.
Interestingly, Meta restricted review access to the Display model, telling journalists it prioritized sending units to "creators" - essentially influencers. This strategy suggests Meta wants social media personalities showcasing its most advanced smart glasses rather than tech reviewers potentially highlighting privacy concerns or social awkwardness.
The reviewer's month-long experience reveals the core tension in consumer AR devices. The Ray-Ban Gen 2 glasses look nearly identical to regular eyewear, weighing about the same as the previous generation with similar frame styles. New color options include cosmic blue, which Ashworth tested. The subtle design means people don't immediately recognize you're wearing a computer on your face.
