Ray-Ban Meta Glasses (Gen 3) Review

View Ray-Ban Meta Glasses (Gen 3) offers

Key Features

Review Price:
£409
New designs

There are now more style options available
Longer battery life

Meta promises up to nine hours of battery
Safety features

With tamper protection and a “light you can’t miss”, Meta is attempting to address the privacy concerns of the glasses

Introduction

Undeterred by the slew of negative press and genuine safety concerns of the public, Meta has unveiled the latest iteration of its Ray-Ban Meta Glasses.

Meta states the third-gen pair offer longer battery life, new photography tricks and introduce new celebrity collaborations to the mix. But has Meta done enough to make its smart glasses safer and, frankly, less creepy?

I was able to get my hands on the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses (Gen 3) earlier this month and, although my time was limited to just a morning, I’ve detailed my first impressions of the divisive specs here.

Price and Availability

The Ray-Ban Meta Glasses (Gen 3) are available to buy now, and have a starting RRP of a pretty hefty £409/€449. That’s a substantial increase to last year’s Meta Glasses 2, but that’s somewhat unsurprising considering most products are seeing price rises this year – thanks to the RAM crisis.

Design

More style options to choose from that do genuinely look nice
Feel comfortable and natural to wear
New action button on the side

You cannot fault Meta for its variety, as there’s plenty of different styles to choose from. Alongside the staples like the Ray-Ban Wayfarer, Meta has introduced Xena and Aviator styles to its third-gen line-up too.

All the designs undoubtedly look great and, as a glasses wearer, I can definitely appreciate the variety available. I spent most of my time with the Ray-Ban Wayfarers and found they feel easy, comfortable and natural to wear. They never once felt like they were going to slide off my nose, nor did they feel too tight either.

At the front of the specs you’ll see the Ray-Ban branding (if applicable to your chosen style, of course) and that controversial camera lens. When you’re not actively using the camera to take pictures or record, the lens blends in neatly and is easy to miss too.

Ray Ban Meta Glasses Gen 3 LED off — Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Like previous iterations, you can control the Meta Glasses (Gen 3) via your voice, paired phone or the touchpad on the legs. The latter can take some getting used to, as I found myself accidentally starting and stopping audio when adjusting the glasses. There’s also a new action button that’s customisable and can be programmed to act as a shortcut to your most used features.

Features

Meta AI is present
Hearing Enhancement
Longer battery than last year’s

The Meta Glasses 3 introduce a handful of new features, with one of the most useful and genuinely helpful being Hearing Enhancement. Similar to the AirPods Pro 3, the Meta Glasses (Gen 3) will now support those with mild to moderate hearing loss and act as a makeshift hearing aid – however I should disclaim that Meta hasn’t disclosed yet whether it’s medical grade or not.

There’s Meta’s AI-powered voice assistant, Muse, which is built into the glasses – though just note Muse isn’t currently available in the UK. Instead, it’s just Meta’s AI tool that was found in previous iterations of the glasses.

Like last year’s, Muse allows you to do anything from play and control music, take a photo, start recording or even start live translation too, all from just a simple voice command. My experience with live translation was solid, as it was able to translate a menu to English – although it did literally just read out all the meals which was a bit overwhelming in the moment. In fairness, that’s most likely user error, as I probably would get a better experience if I provided a more concise prompt.

In addition, Meta AI was able to hear me ask it questions, even when I did so quietly and under my breath, and generally provided me with correct and accurate answers too. Having said that, there were one or two instances where it gave me the complete wrong answer, despite changing my prompt.

Meta Starfire Glasses — Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

You can also use Meta AI to “restyle” images, which worked pretty well, though I don’t really imagine it’ll be used that often. Essentially, you’re prompted to look at something and ask Meta to “restyle it”, and the result will be sent to the Meta app.

Finally, Meta promises its third-gen pair will see up to nine hours of battery life, which is an improvement over last year’s. As I only had a morning with the glasses, I can’t confirm whether this is accurate or not.

Camera

“A light you can’t miss” when recording
Tamper protection on the lens
Dolby Atmos integration
Landscape photography mode

Oh, the Meta Glasses’ camera. Such a small yet unbelievably controversial addition to the glasses. There are a few new features of the camera that I’ll get into later, but I’ll start by addressing Meta’s attempts to make it safer.

To alert people when you’re using the camera, an LED will light up. When recording, the LED will either flash continuously or stay on constantly, while taking a photo will result in a simple flash. Meta stated at the event I attended that it’s “a light you can’t miss”, and I completely disagree with this statement. The flashing when recording is somewhat eye-catching, but it’s still subtle enough that you might not notice it – especially in bright sunlight or if you’re caught off guard.

Sure, if you’re aware of smart glasses and know where to look, then the light is arguably hard to miss, but the issue is that I don’t think many people would know where exactly to look.

Ray Ban Meta Glasses Gen 3 LED — LED on the Meta Glasses (Gen 3) Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

The Meta Glasses (Gen 3) also have tamper protection, which was introduced back in July. This means if you try to cover up the LED, the glasses will be disabled. Even if you cover the LED halfway through recording, the glasses should stop working temporarily.

Safety concerns aside, the camera now supports landscape mode for 16:9 shots, which definitely replicates what you’re actually seeing better than before and makes for a more immersive landscape shot. In addition, the glasses now have Dolby Atmos integration, which means videos sound more immersive than before.

While I didn’t get a chance to test this with my own recordings, I did see examples provided by Meta and the difference between normal stereo and Dolby Atmos recordings was undeniable.

View Ray-Ban Meta Glasses (Gen 3) offers

Final Thoughts

With new designs to choose from, hearing enhancement features for those suffering with up to moderate hearing loss, and the ability to shoot in landscape mode and with Dolby Atmos, the Meta Glasses (Gen 3) are a definite upgrade over last year’s. If you’re a content creator who wants to shoot hands-free footage that’s actually usable, the Meta Glasses (Gen 3) are definitely a great choice.

However, there’s just no denying the privacy issues that surround the Meta Glasses (Gen 3). I can definitely appreciate how the LED to alert users that the glasses are recording is bright and eye-catching, but I still believe that’s because I know it’s there. For those who aren’t tech nerds like me, the light could be all too easy to miss.

Finally, and perhaps this is a personal opinion, I’m not sold on Meta’s AI either, but it’s worth noting that I’m yet to really find an AI agent that I use all the time. Generally I think it’s more effort to use an AI voice assistant than to simply Google an answer. Maybe after a longer period of time with the Meta Glasses, I’d come across instances where using Meta AI is invaluable, but I’m yet to find myself wishing I was wearing the specs while out and about.