Meta launched a new lineup of smart glasses at its Meta Connect 2025 event, pushing the boundaries between wearable tech, AI, and augmented reality. The highlight: Ray-Ban Display is the first Meta glasses with a built-in eye-level display paired with a gesture-neural wristband. For those wanting something more rugged or fitness-oriented, there’s the Oakley Meta Vanguard. And Ray-Ban’s original AI smart glasses get a worthy refresh with Gen 2.
Ray-Ban Display: What’s Different
The Meta Ray-Ban Display is being billed as the bridge between simple camera-only smart glasses and full AR headsets. Key features:
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It includes a small screen embedded in the right lens, enough to deliver notifications, messages, video calls, and navigation without pulling out your phone.
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Gesture controls come via the new Meta Neural Band, a wristband that uses surface electromyography (sEMG) to detect electrical impulses in your arm/hand movements. So you can pinch, rotate your wrist, or do small movements instead of large gestures or voice.
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Display tech: ~600×600 pixels, ~20-degree field of view, refresh rate around 90Hz (content refresh ~30Hz). Brightness spans from ~30 to 5,000 nits.
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Battery life is about 6 hours of mixed-use, or up to 30 hours total with its portable, collapsible charging case. The Neural Band battery lives up to 18 hours.
It costs $799 and goes on sale in the U.S. starting September 30, before expanding to select other countries in 2026.
Oakley Meta Vanguard & Ray-Ban Gen 2: For Athletes & Upgrades
If you’re into sports or outdoor action, the Oakley Meta Vanguard is clearly designed for you. Some of its specs:
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A 12 MP wide-angle camera that can record up to 3K video, offers modes like slow-motion, hyperlapse, and adjustable stabilization.
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Very loud open-ear speakers (stronger than previous models), a 5-mic array with wind-noise reduction.
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Battery life of about 9 hours, plus a charging case, adding another ~36 hours. Half-charge the case-glasses combo in ~20 minutes.
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Durability: IP67 water and dust resistance, replaceable nose pads for fitting, lenses built to handle sun/wind/dust.
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Integrated with fitness tools: connects to Garmin watches, Strava, letting you get real-time stats by voice (“Hey Meta, how am I doing?”), a nd auto-captures of clips when you hit certain milestones.
The Ray-Ban Gen 2 model (camera-AI glasses rather than display ones) gets upgrades too: better battery life (up to ~8 hours), 3K Ultra HD video recording, and enhancements to audio, durability, and perhaps new software features like conversation focus. It’s priced at around $379.
Horizon TV & the Quest Side of Meta’s Vision
Meta didn’t stop with eyewear. It also unveiled Horizon TV, a unified entertainment hub for Quest VR headsets. Rather than users having to jump between multiple apps, Horizon TV brings content from big partners like Disney+, Universal Pictures, ESPN, Hulu, etc., into a single place.
The idea is to make putting on a VR headset feel like entering your own private theater. If you want, there are immersive options; if you don’t, just watching a movie in a quiet virtual room can be more absorbing than watching on a phone.
What This Means & What’s Still Unclear
Meta is clearly stepping up its bet on smart glasses as a central form of personal computing. Display-capable glasses, gesture controls, and fitness integrations push the envelope beyond just recording photos. For everyday life, walking, commuting, and sports, these devices are getting much more compelling.
But there are trade-offs. Display in one eye may mean less immersion than full AR headsets. Brightness extremes are good on paper, but comfort, size, and weight will matter more in daily wear. As for software: how well these gesture controls & AI assistants work in real life (rain, noise, motion) remains to be seen. Also, privacy concerns linger with camera in glasses + streaming + unseen sensors = new questions.
One analyst friend told me, “If Meta nails latency, battery, and especially comfort, these glasses could finally become useful, not just novel.”
Meta’s new product announcements mark a meaningful shift. Not one product here feels like a gimmick. The Ray-Ban Display, Oakley Vanguard, and Gen 2 Ray-Ban models each target different users: commuters, fitness lovers, creators, all pushing us a bit closer to wearables being a true extension of daily life, not just a gadget on your shelf.
If you’re someone who’s been waiting for smart glasses to be useful rather than just flashy, there’s reason to pay attention. Meta may still have some work to do, but the pieces are falling into place.
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