Snap Launches $2,195 Specs AR Glasses; First Thing Wearer Sees Is Ad for Specs
The dual-waveguide display delivers "predictive, context-aware assistance," beginning with the context that you already own these.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Snap on Tuesday released Specs, its long-promised consumer augmented-reality glasses, which for $2,195 overlay digital information on the real world, beginning, reviewers report, with a full-color, head-locked advertisement for Specs.
"Specs Intelligence understands where you are and what you need before you ask," said Snap CEO Evan Spiegel at the launch, moments before the glasses on his own face displayed a small banner reading "Specs. Now available." Spiegel dismissed the banner with a gesture, and it was replaced with a smaller banner reading "Enjoying Specs?"
The glasses use dual waveguide displays to render text, maps and 3D objects into the wearer's field of view. In a demo, a Snap employee walked down a street as the glasses identified a coffee shop, suggested a drink, displayed the menu, and then placed a translucent pair of Specs over a pedestrian who was not wearing Specs, with the caption "Imagine."
The predictive assistant can also anticipate needs. Testers who looked at a restaurant received a reservation prompt; testers who looked at a friend received the friend's Snap score; testers who looked at the sky for more than four seconds received a gentle reminder to look at their Specs.
Reviewers described the display as bright, the field of view as improved, and the experience as "like having a very enthusiastic salesperson living inside your eye." The battery lasts 45 minutes, or 44 if you keep dismissing things.
Snap said Specs represents the future of computing and expects to sell "many" units, a figure the company will disclose in a future quarter that Specs will remind you about.