Beyond new summer styles, like the “chalky gray Sapphire lenses,” Meta’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses are receiving technological updates and expansions in live language translation, Instagram messaging, music streaming, Meta AI and more.
Live language translation is now rolling out to Smart Glasses users in every market the ability to translate conversations across English, French, Italian and Spanish.
According to Meta, “when you’re speaking to someone in one of those languages, you’ll hear what they say in your preferred language through the glasses in real time, and they can view a translated transcript of the conversation on your phone.”
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Users will not need WiFi or a network connection if they download the language pack in advance, making it more useful when traveling to different countries.
Smart Glasses currently allow users to make calls and send texts through Meta’s WhatsApp and Messenger apps, as well as the messaging app on iPhone or Android devices. Now, users will be able to do so through Instagram as well, prompting the glasses by saying, “Hey Meta, send a message to Brad on Instagram.”
Meta is also expanding user access to music apps like Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and Shazam beyond the U.S. and Canada. If users’ default language is set to English, they will be able to ask Meta AI – the company’s virtual assistant – to play music, turn on their favorite tracks, and identify what song is playing in the space around them.
In December, Meta announced that Meta AI could now see continuously through users’ glasses, providing them with the option to ask real-time questions regarding their surroundings when doing “meal prep, gardening, or exploring a new neighborhood.”
Users in the U.S. and Canada will now be able to utilize this new feature, holding real-time conversations with Meta AI while speaking “as you normally would without needing to say ‘Hey, Meta’ each time,” according to the company.
More Ran-Ban Smart Glasses owners in the EU will be able to use this feature starting next week, and, coming soon, Meta says it will launch Smart Glasses in Mexico, India and the United Arab Emirates.
The tech giant sold over a million pairs of Ray-Ban Smart Glasses last year, boosting the revenue of its Reality Labs division 40% year-over-year, despite still losing billions, while becoming the top-selling glasses brand in 60% of all Ray-Ban stores across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
However, major updates still linger on the horizon. Primarily, Smart Glasses that include a 3D display. By the end of the year, it is possible that Meta will introduce its “Hypernova” glasses, which, priced at over $1,000, would “overlay 3D content onto the real world,” ultimately introducing a more immersive augmented reality experience.
“This new product moves beyond the ‘simpler’ capabilities of their current Ray-Ban Meta glasses, introducing more complex features like app display and photo viewing directly via the lens,” says David Lewis, CEO of InZiv, a microLED testing and inspection company. “This move is an important moment for the wearable tech industry, as Meta continues its push to redefine how we interact with digital content in everyday life.”