Snap Spectacles: Daytime Only, For Now
Snap Inc.’s Spectacles, the much-anticipated camera glasses from the company formerly known as Snapchat, are limited to daytime use. This revelation comes directly from Snap Inc., who confirmed that the current design of the glasses makes it impossible to see clearly at night.
The lenses of Spectacles function similarly to regular sunglasses, making nighttime usage impractical. This limitation reinforces the perception of Spectacles as a “toy”, a term used by Snap CEO Evan Spiegel himself when describing them to The Wall Street Journal.
While the $130 Spectacles will be released this fall, users will have to stick to daytime activities like barbecues and music festivals for recording their 10-second circular videos. This limitation may leave some wondering about the practicality of the glasses, especially considering their hefty price tag.
Future iterations of Spectacles could potentially address this limitation with clear lenses or photochromatic light-adaptive lenses that adjust to different lighting conditions.
By keeping the price reasonable, Snapchat hopes to position Spectacles as an aspirational purchase for its teen user base. This strategy could be further enhanced by aligning Spectacles with celebrities that their users admire.
Despite these limitations, the first version of Spectacles provides Snapchat with greater control over the image capture and saving experience. The company hopes that future iterations will address current limitations and make Spectacles a more versatile and useful product.