I logged into Facebook for the first time in a long while recently and was reminded that I bought Snapchat Spectacles six years ago. Although they were fun for a while, they weren’t exactly low-key enough for me to wear regularly. While I’m not personally posting on Snapchat much today, I do get a decent amount of news from the platform and have a handful of friends that I communicate with regularly on there.
Aesthetics aside, Spectacles were destined to fail for me because I’d used the original Google Glass glasses that a friend had years earlier. The quality of the Spectacles was decent but it didn’t compare to the image quality of Google Glass. Unfortunately, the consumer edition of Glass was discontinued in favor of their Enterprise editions designed specifically for industries like logistics, manufacturing, and others.
I can understand why the technology of smart glasses may seem intimidating for people who are concerned with privacy issues. But it’s not like people don’t have camera phones in their hands 24-7, so to me it would seem like it would be obvious if someone was wearing smart glasses and staring at you, they could be recording you. That said, I’d love for the technology to be embraced by consumers but it seems, even with the updated versions, Spectacles are most likely to be looked at as just a mostly failed attempt at smart glasses.
I know there are a lot of new options on the market when it comes to smart glasses. If you’ve had experience with any of them, get in touch with me. I’d love to hear how your experience with them went.