I tried on Meta’s Ray-Ban Display glasses, and while they won’t replace a smartphone, they actually felt like a believable leap past it for once. The difference is that heads-up display: faint, bright and surprisingly helpful. For the first time, smart glasses made me look up, not down.
Why a screen changes everything for smart glasses
Earlier glasses had an audio sidekick, as well as a camera. Slide in a full-color microdisplay, though, and the whole thing changes for the better. The screen is just off-axis in the right lens, so it is there when you need it and you can ignore it when you don’t. It’s based on LCoS projection, gets up to 5,000 nits and is designed so the person across from you can’t see what you’re consuming. Outdoors at high noon or under office LEDs, text and icons remained crisp. Frame photos and video from the lens, then check your shot without dipping for a phone — finally making wearables seem like something that makes sense.
A neural wristband that works for natural control
The unsung star is the EMG wristband. After a very short calibration process, it was able to understand when I used a pinching or pointing gesture to select text and swipe with my thumb to turn through cards, pinch-and-twist for volume or zoom control. It reads the tiniest electrical signals from your hand, so all you have to do is make small microgestures. The strap is a soft yet rugged band with a magnetic cinch that you have to get in person for it to sit properly, which is good for signal fidelity. After a few minutes, comfort was not a concern. The band lasted longer than the glasses in my testing, and is consistent with Meta’s line that it’s an all-day band with a few hours of mixed use on the frames.
Daily rituals with fewer phone grabs and distractions
Live captions are the killer demo here. I tapped to focus on one person, and the glasses transcribed only that person’s words, filtering out surrounding chatter. Combine that with directional amplification of audio and voice control that didn’t jump up at false triggers in a noisy environment, and you have something more like an assistant that respects its context. When I asked for a banana bread recipe, the AI presented steps in swipeable cards — precisely the glanceable workflow you’d desire if your hands were full.
And other tricks quietly gesture toward ambient computing: writing letters in the air with your banded hand to respond to a quick text; placing a video call from your point of view; receiving turn-by-turn walking directions that are rendered directly into the lens. There’s also an opt-in “Live AI” mode that listens to and summarizes explanations or concepts in real time. Used carefully, with explicit consent where necessary, this might be a very useful personal memory device. But it’s easy to see how that chips away at the reflexive unlock. Data.ai has found that in many markets, the time users online spend on mobile apps clocks in at over five hours per day; tools like this one are hoping to swing some of that attention back to reality.
Hardware realities for comfort, battery, and price
The frames are 69 grams, a bump over Meta’s audio-only pair, but they felt well balanced. The display never flickered in others’ eyes, an essential point of etiquette. Battery life clocked in at about six hours of mixed use for me, so you’ll probably want to top up between long sessions. The wristband is water-resistant with a solid rating for short submersion, and the glasses handle daily splashes. The glasses come with transition lenses and support for most common prescriptions is built in. Styles include a solid black as well as a translucent brown. The complete package — both frames and wristband — is $799, so this is pure early adopter territory.
How these glasses compare, and what comes next
From purely audio-based models, the display makes these feel like a new category. Against sportier smart frames from others, Meta’s edge is in the synergy of display, camera and neural input. The general market is starting to boom: IDC predicts strong double-digit growth for AR wearables over the next several years, and component manufacturers are slimming down the optics while increasing efficiency fast. Expect fast iteration cycles. If you buy now, expect annual updates rather than multi-year stability. That’s typical early in the innings of platform shift.
The post-smartphone glimpse of near-term computing
No, these glasses aren’t going to replace a flagship phone. But flex these effectively on casual photo shooting, quick replies, navigation and in-the-moment info — exactly the kind of things that pry us into our screens dozens of times a day. Pew Research Center has tracked near-universal smartphone adoption in the U.S.; the question is how we dial back the extent of compulsive use without sacrificing utility. A modest display and dependable neural band are the most hopeful solution I can recommend.
If you’re AR-curious, make a store demo appointment. Separated by a gap of about 12 miles and the old-feeling world, they both want us to see their new vision of a future that is permanently just around the corner. Perhaps not surprisingly, living on this bleeding edge isn’t as artificial as it sounds. For its other flaws, the $799 box offers up something like an actual ambient computing experience without — for you or me at least — too many trade-offs. For the rest of us, watch this space: With helpful glanceable visuals and smooth, subtle gestures, Aura is when smart glasses begin to feel less like a novelty act and more like the next interface.