Facebook’s Ray-Ban Stories Has Dual 5MP Cameras, Three-Microphone Audio Array | Tech360.tv
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  • Lawrence Ng
    • Sep 10, 2021
    • 3 min read

Facebook's Ray-Ban Stories Has Dual 5MP Cameras, Three-Microphone Audio Array

Facebook recently announced its smart glasses called Ray-Ban Stories, which allows wearers to take photos and videos, share captured content, listen to music and answer phone calls. With its dual integrated 5MP cameras and a three-microphone audio array, you can shoot pictures and clips up to 30 seconds from your perspective. You can do that by either tapping the capture button on the glasses or using Facebook Assistant voice commands.

People around you will know when you're recording as a lit-up LED on the front of the device will indicate that. Ray-Ban Stories also has open-ear speakers to let you listen to your favourite songs and podcasts as well as engage in conversations with your loved ones. The spectacles have beamforming technology and a background noise suppression algorithm to improve your calling experience.

Credit: Facebook

The spectacles pair with the brand new Facebook View App, which streamlines the process of importing, editing and sharing captured content on social media apps downloaded on the wearer's phone. The app additionally lets users enhance the images and clips they took with the spectacles. Wearers can also choose to save photos and videos to their phone's camera roll and share them from there.


Foreseeing privacy concerns about Ray-Ban Stories, Facebook stated that it took wearers' privacy into consideration when it made the device. Hence, the company included hardware protections such as a power switch shutting off the cameras and the microphone as well as an LED signalling when a person is recording with their glasses.


Wearers may also adjust controls in the Facebook View app to indicate where they would like to import and share content as well as when they want to upload photos or videos to their social media pages. Facebook additionally assured users that their data will be safe in the event of misplacing the spectacles.


"For added peace of mind, photos and videos are encrypted on the smart glasses. And the glasses can only be paired with one account at a time, so if you lose your Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses and someone tries to pair them with a new phone and Facebook account, any data and media left on the glasses will be automatically deleted," Facebook stated.


In terms of data collection, the company said that Ray-Ban Stories record information essential for the glasses' functionality such as battery status, the wearer's email address and password for their Facebook account as well as their Wi-Fi connectivity. Wearers can opt to share data like the number of pictures they captured and how much time they spent recording videos to help Facebook with product development, improvement and personalisation. They can change their settings whenever they want.


As for Facebook Assistant voice commands, wearers can view and delete their voice transcripts. They can also turn off Facebook Assistant and/or voice storage in their settings.

Credit: Ray-Ban

With a starting price of US$299 (approximately S$400), Ray-Ban Stories are available in 20 variations, five colours and various lens types such as clear, sun, prescription and transition to fit wearers' needs. The smart glasses come with a portable charging case, which can power the device to let it last three consecutive days. Currently, the device is only sold in select retail stores in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, Ireland and Italy.

 

Written by Sophia Lopez

 

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