Facebook has launched Ray-Ban Stories, smart glasses that will enable users to take photos, record videos, listen to music and answer phone calls without even taking out their smartphone.
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The tech giant built the smart glasses in partnership with the European eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban’s parent firm. It’s the first product to come out of their multi-year partnership.
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Ray-Ban Stories are equipped with dual integrated 5MP cameras that can be used to capture high-resolution photos and record videos up to 30-second. People wearing the smart glasses can either use the physical capture button or Facebook Assistant voice commands to use them hands-free.
The smart glasses come with a white LED adjacent to the right camera that illuminates to let people nearby know when users are taking a photo or video.
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The eyewear device also features streamlined, open-ear speakers, and a three-microphone audio array to deliver voice and sound transmission for calls and videos. Besides, beamforming technology and a background noise suppression algorithm are said to provide an enhanced calling experience, according to the California-based firm.
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The smart glasses pair with the Facebook View app, which makes it easy to import, edit and share content captured on the smart glasses to apps on a user’s phone. They can also save content to their phone’s camera roll and edit and share from there.
Ray-Ban Stories start at $299 (about ₹22,000) and will be available for purchase in 20 variations, in classic Ray-Ban styles — Wayfarer, Wayfarer Large, Round and Meteor — and five colours with a range of lenses including clear, sun, transition and prescription, Facebook said.