Snap launches Specs, its new $2,195 augmented reality glasses to target the gap between headsets and smart glasses

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@markgurman @evanspiegel Yeah, how I'm evaluating glasses now:

The Holodeck glasses are here from Snap, but aren't affordable for most people. $2,195.

I just bought a $1,500 pair of ZeroG glasses https://www.zerogeyewear.com/ to help me see reality better. The best my optometrist offers. With Zeiss lenses.

Yeah, I could have bought a pair of Warby Parkers, but I wanted the absolute lightest, best lenses, I could afford.

My eyes suck.

But these set a baseline I'll use to judge AI glasses that are coming out of the woodwork against.

My lenses:

1. Let me see near and far. Most of the digital eyewear don't do that. 2. Turn dark in sunlight. Most of the digital eyewear don't do that. 3. Are featherweight. Every fraction of a gram makes them less comfortable. 4. Are fashionable. Not true of many of the digital eyewear that's come out. 5. Are completely waterproof (I don't need to take them off in a rain storm). 6. Lenses have very scratch resistant coatings. My last pair, after four years, still have no scratches. 7. Are very durable. Titanium frames are the best at resisting abuse that I've found.

Compared to my new glasses I can't see wearing Snap's glasses all day long. So I'd wear them to try some augmented reality experiences.

The problem is that most of the augmented reality experiences aren't yet to the place where I want to keep them on for more than an hour.

Which is why these will still be very niche focused. Developers should consider. The rest will probably wait, just like they did with Apple Vision Pro (which does have many amazing experiences, but are too heavy and too expensive for me to recommend to my family and friends).

That said, sometime in the next five years some company will put it all together with a device that gets me to take off my ZeroG's for hours.

Will keep evaluating them, have several different AI glasses here to compare, with more on the way.

One kind of person I'd recommend getting digital eyewear? Business travelers.

The glasses from @getVITURE or @XREAL_Global give you a huge color screen to watch a movie, or work in privately, while taking a long flight. They don't pretend to be glasses you can wear all day, and require a wire to a laptop or a phone to power them, though. But at CES the crowds around their booths show that there's a market demand for their kinds of glasses.

There the utility does pass the ZeroG's I have. I also find I frequently put them on when working because of the huge color screens inside.

But the Holodeck device of my dreams still hasn't arrived. Will keep evaluating as Google and Meta bring new devices later this year.

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Robert Scoble@Scobleizer

I want a Vision Pro that's as light as my ZeroG glasses.

Yeah, might be waiting a decade for those. :-)

The eyewear industry knows that they need to be less than 500 grams to be comfortable for a few hours.

My Concord frames: https://www.zerogeyewear.com/concord-new are only a couple of grams.

So the gap is huge.

I'm coming to the realization that glasses that can compete with my ZeroG's aren't coming soon, so I'm looking more for utility that can get me to take off my ZeroG glasses for a few hours to do something like play a game, watch a movie, or work while I travel or sit at a coffee shop, something like that.

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AndrewTek 🇺🇸@andrewtek

@Scobleizer Tell me more about the near and far. I have reading glasses at all the places I do things “near”. I wish I didn’t have to take them on and off all the time depending on the task at hand. I have a couple pairs of cheap progressive lenses, but they aren’t great.

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Robert Scoble@Scobleizer

@andrewtek The bottom of the lenses let me see near. The top let me see far.

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Robert Scoble@Scobleizer

@ChiefAgenteer You probably will argue with this then:

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Avia@avia_chen

@markgurman @evanspiegel Haven't they announced those glasses a year ago? @grok

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s01181969@s01181969

@Scobleizer I see real reality with my natural eyes all right. and soometimes with eyes closed i see more clearer picture.

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RP@Trick_P91

@Scobleizer I think AR glasses won’t go mainstream until they feel like normal glasses first.

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Mike Rundle@flyosity

@markgurman @evanspiegel kinda love how Evan just does whatever the fuck he wants to do

that's the real founder mode

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Jennie is My Girl@nyinyipXone

@markgurman Do you know when is the back to school date? waiting to purchase macbook air!!!

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Julito Alonso@julitoalonso

@Scobleizer Robert, do you have an unified report or web link on the advance of your Holodeck Dream Device? (HDD) 😄

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Arjuna Anand@arjunaaqa

@Scobleizer better glasses are on the way

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Saroshssnair@saroshssnair

@markgurman @evanspiegel Apple price for Android level experience?

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sportsdummie@sportsdummie

@markgurman @evanspiegel you seriously allowed yourself to stop at simply calling them “thick-rimmed” lol

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MAZZIX78@MAZZIX78

@markgurman @evanspiegel I preordered them, hurry up, they’re going to go fast

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Tac”@OnyameWusu

@markgurman @evanspiegel $2,195 crazy price

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hiva@h1vae

@markgurman @evanspiegel Really impressive hardware out of what used to be a software company. Kudos to the engineers that worked on this.

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Erik Groset@ErikGroset

@markgurman @evanspiegel

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Ben@eventuallyright

@markgurman @Katie_Roof @evanspiegel Knowing $SNAP this is probably another bust

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Leights JL@LEIGHT5

@markgurman No one will wear these no matter how good they are - they’re very ugly and bulky. Should have spent more time refining and reducing the size. Wow

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