Category: Reviews

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One Week with Meta Raybans: Audio and Camera Insights

Original Purchase Date: October 3, 2024 (used for one week as of this writing)

Originally posted: Have a Cup of T(ech) Site

#TLDR

One week of use is not enough to determine if these glasses live up to the hype, but I have racked up a solid list of what I like about them, and where they can also be frustrating. The glasses are great headphones, first and foremost. Wearing headphones that I don’t have to think about (like putting in airpods) means I listen to more music, more podcasts, and even more audiobooks. I find myself listening to Instagram Reels with the sound on now, where before I just watched in silence.

The camera is also proving to live up to my expectations. Taking pics and videos without touching my phone is a BIG DEAL. Keeping me in the moment, while still capturing a snapshot in time. I’ve also experimented with 1st person video for my cocktail club, the Runaway Anchor, and that works nicely. On the “half empty” side of things, the transition lens is not as dark as I had hoped, leading me to still switch to old fashioned shades when it’s really bright, and the AI assistant has been spotty (though I haven’t used it that much…yet). At the moment I am very happy with my purchase, but only time will tell if these truly become part of my day-to-day life, or if they end up just being another piece of tech I use from time to time. And if they only end up being headphones, I’m not sure that’s a total win.

Great Headphones

I own several pairs of very nice headphones (including Airpod Max) and I can confidently say that these glasses are my new favorite headphones. If kept at 50% volume, people around you cannot hear what you are listening to, and when you crank up the volume full blast, you can enjoy music and podcasts while mowing the lawn (tested last weekend). The quality of the sound is certainly not on par with the big “over-ear headphones”, but that’s not the point with the Meta Raybans. The point here is all about access. How easy is it to just hop in and out of your audio content. I no longer have to put Airpods in and out all the time, or look for where I put my Airpod Max headphones. With the Meta Raybans, I am always wearing my headphones, while at the same time, I’m kind of never wearing my headphones. It’s trippy, and unlike much of the technology changes over the past 5 years, it’s kind of life altering. I interact with audio on a different level now. I sneak little snippets of music and podcasts all the time, where before I would have to dedicate time for listening to audio sources. I also listen to audio in Instagram Reels and News stories because accessing the audio is just a tap away, and I never did that before these glasses.

The audio is turned on and off with a single tap on the right side. Sorry all you left-handers out there, this is a right-handed device for now (sigh). Two taps will advance the track for music and three taps will go back a track. Touch and slide forward to increase volume. Touch and slide backwards to decrease the volume. That’s it. Whatever audio source you are using on your phone will be controlled by tapping. Switching between things like podcasts, audible and music is a little clunky at the moment. Spotify support is supposed to get better, and you can have a default service when you ask for music (mine is Apple Music). But you can’t ask for an audiobook on Audible to start right now. That’s also an update that is said to be coming in the near future.

There is also a touch and hold audio feature that will start a designated music source (amazon music, apple music, spotify or calm). I have that set for Spotify, as I have better playlists there (curated by my kiddo). It’s a bit random at the moment, and I use the feature for my “I don’t know what I want to listen to right now” moments. So that’s it for the headphones part.

Solid Camera Experience

The camera is what got me to pull the trigger on this purchase. The idea that I could grab pics when I’m doing something fun without the usual “phone fumble” was exciting to me. Think about it. If you see something cool and want a pic, you do this: take out phone, wake it up, open camera app, point camera at thing you want picture of, push the capture button, turn off phone, put phone back in pocket. That’s a lot of steps. And the moment you capture is through a viewfinder (as in your phone screen)! With the Meta Raybans your eye is the camera, and the capture is just a single tap (or a voice command of “Hey Meta take a photo” if your hands are occupied or perhaps in the pic). I even managed to snap a pic of a book I was holding, by pushing shutter and quickly putting the object into the frame (see pic).

The camera is easy to use. Tap the button to take a picture (again, on the right side only!!) Hold the button to take a video (default is 1 minute, but can be increased to 3 minutes in the mobile app). I discovered quickly that if you are wearing a baseball cap the camera will see it, and you get a notification that the “camera is blocked”, but only after you are done shooting the video. So I ended up turning my hat backwards when I use the camera, which isn’t a great look, but it is functional. I don’t do a lot of “out in the world” videos, but I’ve shot a few to show different light impacts on filming (I’ll share those videos in the future, when I deep dive into the cameras). For now, I’m much more interested in the “point and shoot camera” but again, the hat brim will get in the way…

The quality of the video and images is great. Not as good as most current mobile phones, but still great for their intended purpose (quick snaps of what you’re doing, without the need to grab your phone). The audio capture is also great. I’ve made a couple cocktail videos that worked nicely, and I did a recording while singing and playing the piano that turned out nicely too (I will not be sharing that video though!) Time will tell how much I continue to use the camera. It’s worth noting that you can set up the mobile app so when you import images and video from the glasses they will copy into your phone’s photo library too. And if you delete the images in the Meta Mobile app, it will ask if you’d like the library copy deleted too. That is very handy and keeps down the image clutter!

Images shot with Meta Raybans
AI is Limited and Spotty

Alright, that’s enough good stuff. What about the bad stuff, right?!? Much like the new iPhones, the AI elements of the Meta Raybans are pretty basic, but promise updates “soon”. The command is “Hey Meta” and then you can ask basic questions. Weather and Timers work great (just don’t use the British voice assistant or you’ll get Celcius for weather). You can “google things” with some success. I was able to ask for the hours at a local restaurant before heading out the door (some day maybe I can get on the wait list with a quick voice command…) But, all in all, the AI is more of a gimmick, than a feature I use often. But I truly haven’t kicked the tires to hard yet, and plan to do that in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned.

The one AI element that has been most interesting to me is “tell me what I see”. When you ask this you will get a detailed description of what is in front of you. Down to pretty detailed elements. Then you can ask it to write a poem about what you see. Here the pic and poem the glasses came up with when I looked at my home desk. When the features update to include actionable questions, that’s when this tool goes from gimmick to useful. But we are not there quite yet. I am hopeful.

The Whole Cup Summed Up

I’m just a little over a week with these Meta Raybans smart glasses, and so far I’m really impressed. A friend of mine, who is a fellow Meta Raybans owner, responded this way when I said I was really enjoying the glasses so far. “I know you’d love them… they are so in line with your tech values”. That is really true. I do not like my smartphone. I do not like staring at screens. I think it’s better when we put our tech aside and just be in the world. But realistically, we are stuck the mobile internet on our person at all times. So any tech that keeps my hands empty and data easily accessible is definitely “in line with my tech values”. And so far, these glasses are doing it. Now I just have to see if my usage is sustainable, and not just the excitement of something new. I’ll be back with more posts in the future, as I examine daily use and dig into specific features in much more depth. Till Next Time…

BC
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First Impressions: Quest 3

The Quest 3 has finally arrived! The latest virtual reality headset from Meta has some seriously high expectations, both as a “next generation” device, and for helping Meta compete in the area of Mixed Reality, just as Apple is set to ramp up interest in the space with the Vision Pro early in 2024. So let’s looks quickly at this new VR headset and answer some basic questions with my first impressions.

For those new to my style of reviews, these are not technical reviews, but more consumer reviews. I want anyone who is interested in virtual reality to know what this new headset is, and whether it’s worth dropping $500 to get (versus, you know, getting a PS5 or something). Here we go!

What’s New

The previous headset, the Quest 2, lived a very long life for an emerging technology at THREE YEARS. For context the original Quest launched in 2019 and lasted one year before the Quest 2 replaced it in October 2020. So the market is now full of Quest 2 hardware, which Meta will continue to sell as an “entry level” device starting at $299. So what do you get for the extra $200? Many things it turns out. But we’ll keep this pretty high level.

New Form Factor – the Quest 3 is a significant change from Quest 2. There is a claimed 40% reduction in size. Simply put, this thing feels way more like ski googles than the Quest 2 ever did. While it weighs roughly the same as the previous generation, the Quest 3 doesn’t feel as heavy because the weight is closer to your head. The lens are changed out for “pancake” style, which means they are thinner, and also they are larger, so you will have an increased field of view when you are in VR. The controllers changed too, ditching the rings that often caused confusion for new users (but did give us a handy way to “hang up” the controllers when not in use.) No more rings. The controllers are still tracked by the headset though, so no putting your arms behind your back (like you can with Quest Pro, which features self tracking controllers). So, big change in the physical headset that is VERY noticable visually and also when you wear it.

Software Updates – the headset is run by a much faster computer chip, which means games launch faster, and the headset can support higher quality graphics. Many game makers are already upgrading the graphics of their content libraries (including my fav, Walkabout Minigolf). The user interface is the same as Quest 2, so there isn’t a whole new ecosystem to learn thankfully.

Color Passthrough – I’m giving this topic it’s own section because for many it will be a huge selling point. And for Meta to compete in the Mixed Reality space, this feature needs to hit with consumers. On Quest 2 the passthrough camera revealed a grainy grey world when enabled. The passthrough wasn’t even intended to be functional beyond setting your “guardian space” when the Quest 1 originally launched. But as more folks want to play Mixed Reality games, or build experiences that overlay the physical space with digital experiences, the passthrough became more important to the product development team. The Quest Pro features the first “full color passthrough” but it was still pretty grainy, and without a depth sensor it was still just taking flat videos of your space, and wasn’t great at mapping physical objects (which is crucial for mixed reality).

Notice these pics taken with Quest Pro (left) and Quest 3 (right). The first looks out my office window. The Quest Pro is a blown out light space and requires moving closer to the window to see building and objects. The Quest 3 is clear immediately. The second set of photos is my office desk. You’ll notice the Quest Pro (left) is more washed out and blurry, whereas the Quest 3 (right) has that pop of color. What you can’t see in the picture is that I can read the words on the world map on my desk with Quest 3, where with Quest Pro it’s all white blobs. So the passthrough upgrade is a true game changer for the Quest product line. I look forward to seeing what developers do with it. I’m already using it for Horizon Workrooms and Puzzling Places, and the upgrade is very noticeable.

One more demonstration of this new and improved Passthrough. The following were taken with the headset on my head, both the still image and the video. And it is pretty stunning.

Should I Upgrade?


If you have been enjoying the Quest 2 over the past three years and want to continue the experience of the best Mobile VR on the consumer market right now, then upgrading to Quest 3 is a good choice. I have been working in the VR space for almost 8 years, and I rarely experience the rush of the original days when I first strapped on the Gear VR and the HTC Vive, but I can honestly say that the Quest 3 blew my mind. Especially the Mixed Reality Demo that features aliens blasting through your walls and bouncing off your furniture, as you blast them with your ray guns. The experience reminded me of an old demo with the Magic Leap One, but since the passthrough is all video, the experience is seamless in both direct and peripheral vision (AR headsets are famous for their tiny field of view).

At the same time, the Quest 2 will continue to be a very good entry level headset. The vast majority of games will be backwards compatible, at least for a while. So if you aren’t in a rush to drop half a grand on a new headset, you aren’t being left behind. The move from Quest 1 to Quest 2 felt more like “to experience good VR you need to make the change”. The shift to Quest 3, while I’d say it is a more dramatic change this time around, it is at the same time a more tolerable shift, because the Quest 2 remains a very good VR headset, and will be a solid choice for a while into the future.

It’s worth noting that battery life continues to be an issue and there is some concern that by trying to keep things small while increasing the computing power we could see battery life drop. I will be paying attention to that as I use it. Also the stock headstrap, while I’d argue is modestly better than the Quest 2 stock strap, if you’re a regular user you will want to upgrade to an Elite style strap (and wait a month or so for the 3rd party companies, like Kiwi, to release solid solutions).

In Summary

The Quest 3 is the VR headset the market has been waiting for these past 3 years. The Quest 2 served us well, and will serve as a solid workhorse for years to come, but the landscape of Virtual Reality is changing. The introduction of more Mixed Reality solutions and “Spatial Computing” concepts mean that Meta has to continue to push innovation or be left behind when companies like Apple make their play for the market.

The Quest 3 is an upgrade you feel every time you use it. It’s more like moving from PS3 to PS5, versus iPhone 13 to 15 (both jumps I’ve made myself recently). If you love VR this is a headset to get. Or you can hope you know someone who has one and ask them for a demo. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll have a blast.

More to come on the details as I use this headset over the next few weeks.

Cheers!

BC
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VR Office Product Review: Face Cover with Fan

Every two weeks we review one product/service/software that we find helpful when setting up a VR Office, or working within the Metaverse in general.

First up is the Face Cover with Fan. This accessory has been a GAME CHANGER for me as a long time user of VR. A simple tool that makes wearing the headset for prolonged periods so much better! If you are inspired to pick up your own, you can find it HERE.

Check out the very end to see a “blooper”!

Till Tomorrow…