Meta's next step towards dominance of the AR glasses market may require a large part of your wallet. The company led by Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly planning to use new glasses code-named “Hypernova” which could cost more than $1,000 to enable tiny head playback built into a lens. Yes, it's expensive, but the real struggle of Meta will make sure it runs on the software, which won't make us want to throw expensive glasses away from the cliff.
According to a report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the rumored Hypernova augmented reality glasses should arrive sometime this year, based on anonymous sources. The first iteration of Meta glass with the screen will include the tiny monocular panel in the right lens. This can give users notifications or access photos from their phones, and even view instructions from apps like Google Maps. For this, the prospective everyone will need to cough at least $1,000, according to Gulman. Some versions can cost as much as $1,300 or $1,400.
Meta can debut this year at its annual Meta Connect conference. The model may also see a larger sensor that should take higher quality photos than the 12MP camera sensor on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
Otherwise, Hypernova will reflect the design of Meta's past work. The current Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses start at $300, although the cost of the version with a transition lens is close to $380. These glasses use physical button controls to access the built-in camera for photos or videos. The best feature of glasses is the onboard speakers, which users can control by sliding their fingers along the right ear. Gurman mentioned that the physical control of Hypernova glasses may be the same as the ray explosion.
If all you have to do is take quick photos of your dog or a phoneless tune, then the Ray Yuan Yuan Glasses can do the job. The main problem with any future metawearable devices will be software. Bloomberg notes that Hypernova will be launched to its own home screen, and users can access the app drawer of the horizontal icon. There may be a dedicated application for pictures, cameras, and maps.
Gulman said the glasses “will continue to rely heavily on” the Meta View app. You can move the app together with the ray player to your phone from your glasses. This is not a particularly easy-to-use app, and it is a bit nervous to mention the ability to include notifications (presumably your phone) in many new glasses.
Software has always been a fatal weakness of Meta. It's a web-based company where phone manufacturers decide who can do what. The Meta View app is severely limited by the operating system it operates, and Mark Zuckerberg is not shy about how Ray-Ban Meta and other third-party hardware work with iOS. If these new glasses are trapped in a similar ecosystem, it’s hard for them not to end up like many of the smart glasses before.
Leaks inside the Meta suggest the company plans to launch multiple types of smart glasses this year. (One of them could be a pair of Oakley-branded sun visors made for athletes.) But this strategy will continue to struggle when using glasses as the interface for phones made by another company. Unless Zuckerberg and the company know something we don’t know, these new glasses can lead to even more frustration.
