Ray-Ban Meta vs. Amazon Echo Frames | This Smart Glasses Shootout Has a Clear Winner

So I'm a Florida man and when I'm not wrestling  alligators or doing any other things that start   with watch this well I'm probably wearing  sunglasses cuz it's Florida and it's bright   out but we're not here to just talk about any  old sunglasses right this is Digital Trends   we're going to talk about smart glasses  now I've spent the last several months   with a couple of them with the Amazon Echo  Frames and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses   and there's a lot of overlap between the two  but which one should you get I'm pretty sure I   have the right answer before you do anything  else of course subscribe to the channel hit   the notification Bell thumbs up on the  video you know how to do all this stuff   right yes okay let's go do it these are the  Amazon Echo Frames and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses all right let's talk smart glasses so  these have been on everyone's mind a little   bit more since Apple Vision Pro came out  now I know we're talking Apple's nordes   right literally figuratively spiritually all  that stuff and you know what count me among   those who don't think that face computers are  quite ready for prime time just yet and I've   been using these for a long time all the way  back to say Google Glass oo that that that's   a rough picture right there and uh also the HTC  Vive I was among the first press to give that a   shot in 2015 but we're going to talk like proper  sunglasses or even just glasses here so the Echo   Frames and the Ray-Ban Meta and I tell you what  I'm just going to call them Ray bands from here   on out cuz Ray-Ban Meta is just a really really  clunky name they are essentially the same sort   of thing they are glasses or sunglasses with some  smarts built in now those smarts include a couple   things including Bluetooth so it can talk to  your phone that makes sense right they also   both have speakers in the stems so you can listen  all sorts of things music podcast uh the glasses   themselves will talk to you through their various  smart uh assistants right but the ray bands also   have cameras and that's really going to change  the equation we'll talk more about those in a   second so given that these smart glasses are  actually pretty similar which ones should you   get well before I get to that let's just note  that these glasses I have here are the glasses   that I have here there're actually a whole bunch  of different versions of both of them the Amazon   Echo Frames and the Ray Bans you can get in a  bunch of different styles you can get them with   clear lenses you can get them with sung glasses  lenses polarized not polarized a whole bunch   of different options and Amazon has this totally  separate collection called the Carrera collection   which are technically not Echo Frames but they  are Echo Frames they're all in the same family   right just different branding so you have a lot  of choices here and my only real recommendation   for that is if you have the opportunity to go try  them on do it that's really important for things   that you're going to wear in your face right first  you're going to see how they actually look on you   that's important second especially when you're  spending this much money you're going to see how   well they fit uh Ray-Ban stores anywhere they  sell Ray-Ban glasses you should be able to find   them there Amazon Echo Frames well that's that's  going to be tougher so let's start with a close   look at the Amazon Echo Frames now these are the  third generation and they started just under $300   and I tell you I'm really digging the way they  look I don't hate them at all so I like that   there are a bunch of options here and by the way  they look damn good on my wife now you're going   to have to guess a little bit of the size again  this is Amazon we're talking about so go through   the steps that they give you to try to measure  your face and and get it right the first time   it'll save you a lot of pain in the process Now  setup is simple enough through the Alexa app if   you've ever set up any Echo device the exact same  thing super easy and after that you'll have Alexa   in your ears and everything that comes with that  you got music and questions and notifications it's   kind of cool really and it's done really well  now I'm going to Short change the Amazon Echo   Frames here a little bit and I almost feel the  need to apologize for it but I'm not going to   and here's why the speakers aren't great as soon  as you put on the ray bands you're going to say   wow those Amazon Echo Frames do not sound good at  all it's quieter it's just not as good there's no   oomph to it and yeah you get a little oomph out  of the ray bands we'll talk more about that in a   second and that's a shame because there's a lot of  promise there but it is a night and day difference   if you care at all about how things are going  to sound and you don't have to have the Amazon   ecosystem you're going to want to go straight  to the ray band Metas full stop so that's one   deal breaker for me the other one is the way  they charge so the Echo Frames come with this   little stand and the instructions that at least  were in my box when I got them didn't really do   much to make it easy to figure out how to put them  on I followed it I'm a relatively smart guy it was   frustrating but then there's the fact that you  have to have the stand to charge them that's not   fun you have to either be at home or in an office  or someplace where you can put the stand down and   plug it in and charge them it's clunky and it  means I'm never going to take these somewhere   where I'm on the go on a trip or even in the car  just it's awkward it's not great and that's it   sound quality charging deal breakers for me sorry  Amazon I really wanted to like them it's just not happening now on the ray band Metas and first  things first these things are all Facebook I   still have some serious concerns about that I am  not crazy about Facebook sitting on my face I'm   not crazy about Facebook having cameras on my face  I'm not crazy about the pictures I take with those   cameras being that close to Facebook I'm going  to have to give them the benefit of the doubt   here Facebook today in 2024 is not the Facebook of  2015 I might have to get over that but I'm never   going to stop being a little worried about it so I  already mentioned the speakers and the stems let's   talk about them a little more they are great for  speech things like podcasts and phone calls they   are great for music there's actually a little base  in there totally surprised I almost thought they   were bone conducting at first they're not now  keep in mind there's a pretty good chance that   somebody sitting next to you is going to be able  to hear if you have music playing they're going   to be like where's that music coming from I might  have had them you know tilted up on my head at the   Thanksgiving dinner table and everybody noticed  and you can still hear things even when you're   not wearing them directly on your face like you  would normally wear sunglasses right so sometimes   when I have them tilted up I can still hear things  it's as good but it's better than nothing so keep   that in mind it's a really interesting use case  so the bottom line on the speakers and the stems   and we almost need a new name for those Stiers  stemmers I don't know whatever it's almost like   having a pretty good pair of uh open ear earbuds  like shocks I've reviewed those in the past like   them a lot Bose has some really interesting ones  so it's almost like we need a new category for   speakers and glasses I'm going have to think about  that some now let's talk about the cameras because   they are a really big deal here now on paper these  are 12 megapixel cameras in actuality what you get   out of them is you know the math doesn't quite  work out to 12 but it really depends so videos   shoot from the left camera at about 3 megapixels  and that will actually vary a little bit because   there's some Optical image stabilization going  on uh if you ever notice that videos are cropped   that's what it is that's why it happens Stills are  higher resolution and they're not bad uh you know   maybe not as good as what you get from a modern  smartphone but for something that's sitting on   your face and super easy to use they're pretty  good they're also wide angles so if you're going   to take a picture of anything close up you're  going to have to be really close to it uh but   really interesting for just contextual kind  of scene setting pictures so you have these   cameras on your face the next question is what am  I going to do with them what kind of pictures am   I going to take with these glasses well at first  I tell you I was like I'm going to document all   the things and then I got out there with them  and it's like should I be documenting all the   thing should I be documenting anything I mean look  there's a notification light on the front of the   glasses to show people when you're taking videos  and stills and you get a little notification light   on the inside but I kind of learn to ignore that  pretty quick cuz it's in my peripheral vision   so it's a good thing that people technically can  tell that you're taking video right that's smart   that's important but that doesn't necessarily  mean that you should be taking video of anybody   anywhere yes you can be in public no people in  your video didn't necessarily consent to it we   can have all kinds of arguments about this right  it's not a new argument uh there's a big thing of   Photography right now should we even be shooting  street photography anymore I can argue both sides   of that all day long it's really going to be  up to you at the end of the day just be smart   about it be safe be courteous by the way you  can live stream out of these to uh Facebook or   Instagram I have had zero desire to do so for me  the uh one minute time limit on videos is usually   enough after that there's like what am I looking  at what am I staring at 1 minute it's fine you can   set that lower if you want in the app uh but you  know one minut is great and doesn't burn anything   up or kill the battery too bad now the cameras  are another time that I've been thinking about   having Facebook on my face so what you should  take pictures and video of is one question how   much I want Facebook to be able to grab those  things is another I'm really uncomfortable with   Facebook having unfettered access to everything  I'm shooting now when you first take a picture   or a video it lives in the glasses and then  you have to transfer it to your phone somehow   a couple ways to do that one is over Wi-Fi in  The Meta live view app super easy to do it's   not you know seamless it's not the most smooth  thing in the world but it's not hard now these   pictures and videos will end up in your camera  roll and that makes it really easy to share to   any other app fine or you can share them directly  out of the Metav view app there's also Meta Cloud   media which gives Facebook direct access to  it and will allow you to send pictures just   by your voice you don't have to use your phone  you don't have to touch anything really just   activate uh the Facebook assistant and say send  a picture and it will send a picture but that's   automatically uploading everything to Facebook  you can use it if you want I'm not I'm going to   have to think twice about that here's my bottom  line of the cameras they're not bad I love having   the option to use them I love having the option  not to use them right it's up to me at the end   of the day now if you're a content creator this  is the sort of thing you should absolutely have   it is great for firstperson video in all sorts of  contexts except at night maybe cuz sunglasses but   whatever you know what I mean and they're super  convenient for doing behind the scenes shots which   I know the kids are all about these days now I  said battery and charging was a big deal with   the Amazon Echo Frames mainly charging was pain  in the butt it is way simpler with the Ray Bans   so all you got to do pop them in the case that's  it it's like airpods it's like earbuds it's like   anything else you've used like that you use it  you put it in the case it charges and you don't   have to think about it and that's important for a  couple reasons one if you're going to spend $300   or more more than $300 on sunglasses you should  take care of them and I started doing that when   I got my first pair of expensive sunglasses years  ago which also happened to be Ray bands keep them   in the case right keeps them safe and in the  case of these smart glasses it charges them   so anytime you run inside real quick pop them  in the case they charge while you're there and   then just every day or two whenever I need to  I charge the case it really is simple it really   is well done it looks and feels like any other  Ray-Ban case out there Kudos that's the way it   should be all right a couple other odds and ends  I want to go through to wrap this up first There's   an actual power switch hidden in the left stem  that's handy for a soft reset and it's just a   good thing to know about and actually when there  are times that I know I'm not going to be using   the cameras or using the speakers or any of the  smart functionality I'll just reach up and turn   the glasses off that way I'm not wasting the  battery and again just to reiterate you have   a lot of options what you see here is what I  got but you can get clear lenses you can get   prescription lenses you can get sunglasses  prescription sunglasses you can get a whole   bunch of different styles so absolutely go through  the website take a look take your time you're not   stuck with what I'm wearing and finally there's  this AI recognition stuff maybe you've seen the   demo Zuck did it where uh he took the glasses into  his closet to pick out some clothes you should not   have to put on smart glasses to go to your closet  and pick out clothes and have it figure out what   goes with khaki everything goes with khaki uh  it look it was a cool demo it's an interesting   concept I don't have it yet it's currently in beta  so I can't really speak to it I'll be interested   to try it I wouldn't use that as a selling point  for these necessarily so the bottom line between   the Amazon Echo Frames and the Ray-Ban Meta smart  glasses it's Ray bands all the way okay uh I like   the look better the speakers are 1,000% better  that's a big enough selling point on its own   and you have the option for cameras cool I like  having the option for cameras even if I don't use   them all the time and also with the smarts on the  inside I don't need Alexa on my face that bad look   I don't need Facebook on my face that bad but if I  I had to pick between the two Facebook's probably   the more useful one for me personally at this  point again the Ray Bans sound that much better   I can't stress that enough it is a night and day  difference if you care about that at all you're   going to want the ray bands in fact it's making  it so I don't even take earbuds with me half the   time if I know I'm going to be outside wearing  sunglasses I just take the Ray Bans and I use   those as my earbuds bigger question is this the  future of face Computing not these specifically   not yet uh you're really going to have to get  to the point where there's a display on the   inside to get more information right but this is  the start it's really interesting and these Ray   band Metas are really really well done if you  are in the market for a new pair of sunglasses   and have the wallet to spend several hundred  doar on them absolutely check it out I think   they're that good I think they're that cool and  yeah they're actually that useful right now if   you have any questions if you think I'm wrong if  you think I look really good or if we should see   more my wife wearing these sunglasses let me know  down in the comments yes I read them yes I reply   again be sure to subscribe to the channel like the  video thumbs up notification bell all that stuff   you know how to do it that's right we will be  back with more here Digital Trends real soon see you

Channel: Digital Trends

Views: 56,932

Keywords: ray ban meta vs echo, ray ban stories vs echo frames, ray ban meta review, echo frames comparison, echo frames, echo frames gen 3, echo frames gen 3 review, echo frames vs meta, facebook smart glasses, amazon smart glasses, amazon smart glasses echo frames, ray ban meta, rayban smart glasses, ray ban smart glasses, ray ban meta smart glasses ai, ray ban meta glasses review, echo frames compare, smart glasses 2024, smart glasses ray ban, echo frames vs, echo frames review

Id: OQNMooMOqfI

Length: 14min 12sec (852 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 07 2024