Ray-ban Meta v2: Initial thoughts: Draft -01

[This in projects instead of articles, as this is part of series of reviews of emerging tech]

Context:
I am a tech/smart sunglasses fan, I had the Oakley thump2 around 20 years ago, the bose sunglasses in 2020, the Meta Raybans V1 (lost in an uber in May 2022), replaced by a defunct Meta Rayban v1s (returned but Ray-ban never issued a refund) and now the Meta Ray-bans V2 since Jun 2024. (2x: transition lenses and normal wayfarer sunglasses)

Experience so far (July 27, 2024) with the Meta Ray-bans V2

A- What I like:

• Love take photo.

• Love Taking videos, but would love a shorter code word o end video (maybe it exists)

• Like send photo to (although doesn’t work all the time)

• Like getting messages. Esp when biking, Would be nice to easily turn it on and off.

• I liked using it to do quick translations when traveling.
  

B- BUGS

1- call/message feature on WhatsApp is an absolute pain and super buggy. Even when message “call Elizabeth” I am sometimes asked “message Elizabeth to Thai sensations on whatsapp?” (PS: Somehow many contacts I tried to message or call ended up with a response asking me if I wanted to message “message xxx, with yyy to “ “Thai sensations” contact on whatsapp)

2- A couple of times it just started playing music after asking for a translation

3- Spotify action a bit too confusing.

4- Camera is covered notification almost always wrong: ability turn off camera was covered notifications. ( gets triggers by: umbrella, sun loungers, helmet, and usually nothing),
also hair in front of camera ALWAYS wrong, maybe it needs to be wiped from dust or condensation?

5- Defaulting to playing media on sunglasses:
> I am in my car, listening to music on Android Auto, I put on the sunglasses and it starts streaming to glasses instead of car. I have to turn off the sunglasses physically to stop it.
> Wearing sunglasses at outdoor place, wanted to show my son something on my phone, media played on sunglasses…

C- Feature requests

Syncing: Allow me to sync my media on mobile data. Biggest fear is not losing it I can get a new one, biggest fear is losing it with some precious media on it.

Whatsapp/Messenger integration: This could be a killer feature but right now it’s a killing feature.

- add favorite contacts for calling and messaging within MetaView. (From sunglasses I might want to just message/send photos to less<5-10 people/groups, make the search space much smaller making the accuracy much better)

- easier way to change WhatsApp contact destination. Block some.
- ideally add sunglass nicknames for some so it doesn't have to say call “Michael von shwarzenfeld Berlin cto” every time someone messages me or I message them.
- Want to eliminate repeating contact info of multiple messages.
- sometimes music starts without me doing anything to start it.

Contact sends message in 3 back to back chunks on whatsapp:
Message on whatsapp from.. saying: ……
Message on whatsapp:
Message on whatsapp:

Next will populate section below: [Update no need right now as META just showcased Orion]

Future Features (no change to HW)

Future Features (HW impact)
V1: Indicator LED (+ Haptic feedback?)
V2: Micro-AR (GG)
V3: AR