Snapchat Spectacles: Glasses Feature One-Touch Video Recorder

Over the weekend, the photo and video sharing social media app Snapchat rebranded itself as Snap Inc. and announced the debut of its own brand of camera-ready sunglasses named Spectacles.

According to CNET, the 10-second video recording sunglasses could indeed flop, but it's none-the-less a daring move by Snap Inc. to branch out beyond the digital app realm into hardware. The Spectacles’ release date remains a mystery at this time but just know that it’s landing soon and in limited quantities at launch.

Just 5 years in the social media app game and Snapchat is steadily on the rise, drawing in 150 million daily active users as of June 2016, according to quantitative data company, Statista. The $130 optical video recorders will be geared towards existing users of the popular mobile app and aims to pry them away from their phone’s camera. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Spectacles’ camera uses a 115 degree angle lens, significantly wider than the field of view of most smartphones.

For example the iPhone 6 features an angular field of view of 63.5 degrees, which is narrower than the 160 degree total field of view of the human eye. Snap Inc. CEO, Evan Spiegel explains that since Spectacles are capable of recording circular video, the outcome is closer to human vision for a more realistic perspective.

Despite the fact that Snap Inc.’s Spectacles sunglasses brought about comparisons to Google Glass, its functionality is actually similar to Sharper Image’s video recording sunglasses with smartphone with instant replay. Just like Sharper Image’s video capturing shades, Spectacles is equipped with an integrated button that initiates recording. Sharing captured Snapchat Memories from Spectacles to the Snapchat app is identical to the photo and video sharing process of the Sharper Images video recorder glasses. Memories are sent to the Snapchat app wirelessly via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, synching to your iOS or Android device.

What makes Spectacles stand out from existing sunglasses that have cameras embedded inside is its vibrant, fun design. “We’re going to take a slow approach to rolling them out,” says Spiegel. “It’s about us figuring out if it fits into people’s lives and seeing how they like it.”

More like a novelty gadget than the future of computing as the now halted Google Glass project sought to become, Spectacles are designed to be a new fun alternative way to share Snap memories with with others.