Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses: Stylish but Flawed

This September, the new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have been launched and combined the style and technology into a single visual frame. These prescription-friendly shades, for a tech editor who loves trying out new wearables, seemed really interesting with their ability to listen to music, make calls, and even capture photos—all allegedly without having to reach for your phone. They seemed to me like a fun, if somewhat frivolous, accessory worth investigating at $300.

I've had them for a month in New York City, commuting, walking in the parks, running errands—some features impressed me, most specifically the legibility of text messages and the quality of audio. But one flaw is glaring enough to make me stop short of simply recommending them.

Design: Sleek Yet Bulky

The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses will come in a slick design. The first and most obvious indicator of this is the inbuilt camera, which is modestly placed on the upper right frame, while a dummy lens is fitted on the other side to show uniformity. A glowing ring around the lens lets one know when taking a photo or video.

The charging case does sport a stylish faux leather finish, but it actually is bulky and pretty hard to squeeze into smaller bags. The magnetic mount for the sunglasses can be a little fiddly at first; although the case does have an actually really useful LED light for telling when the battery's running low, there's no getting around that bulk. The frame arms, too, were a bit thicker than usual and started feeling uncomfortable during long wear—though never slipped from my face.

Battery Life: Disappointing

The biggest letdown was the battery life. Four hours is what the Ray-Ban Metas last for, so it's clearly underwhelming if you need them much longer, say to wear at festivals or over longer periods outside. For comparison, the Amazon Echo Frames (Gen 3) have a promised battery life of six to eight hours, but they lack a camera. The Meta Ray-Bans do come with a charging case that extends battery life to 32 hours; however, this four-hour limit can certainly be a constraint for quite a lot of use cases.

Performance: A Great Performance but With Caveats

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed these Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. It's great audio quality produced crystal clear sound that was appreciably better than other smart glasses I've tested. The open-ear design offers situational awareness, and both the touch controls and the Meta AI voice assistant were responsive and useful. Still, the 12MP camera resolution, while good enough for casual use, does come with its limitations, including a slight fishbowl effect.

The Major Flaw: No Location Tracking

The biggest flaw: no on-device location tracking. If you misplace the glasses, there's no way to track them—pretty major for a $300 pair of sunglasses. Amazon's Echo Frames have a "find my device" feature; the Ray-Ban Metas leave you completely on your own with that, and it became very stark after I lost them.

Verdict: It's Worth Considering, with Reservations.

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses offer a couple of nifty features and good audio to make them a fun piece of tech, but some big downsides include the lack of location tracking and just kind of mediocre battery life. If you're willing to stomach those problems for the sake of stylish tech, they might be worth it. Otherwise, a combination of traditional sunglasses and wireless earbuds might be a more practical choice.

How I Tested the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses

I've worn the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses every day, both in parks and on city streets. I tried their audio quality on every sort of music that comes to mind and judged it against the Amazon Echo Frames (3rd Gen). I also checked the battery life and—luckily—learned about their lack of location tracking the hard way.

My Expertise

An experienced consumer tech editor at Forbes Vetted, I've covered most of your consumer electronics. My background includes the use of a sweeping range of technology products that range from wearables to smart home gadgets, and providing informed recommendations based on hands-on reviews..