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Missed out on Meta Ray-Ban Display? Verizon is selling the smart glasses now, but act fast

Apair of Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and Neural Band in the Sand color.

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

  • Verizon will start selling Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses today.
  • You can book a reservation at a local carrier store, so long as they have inventory.
  • The Ray-Ban Display glasses feature a waveguide for mixed reality experiences.

Since launching in September, Meta’s Ray-Ban Display<!–> smart glasses continue to be a hot commodity. Within the first hours of open sales, demo reservations – which are required to purchase the wearable – were being pushed to a month or two later. To assist with Meta’s efforts, Verizon will be selling Ray-Ban Displays across its nationwide stores starting today.

Also: I tried the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses (including this unreleased feature), and I’m nearly sold

The $800 smart glasses are Meta’s first market-ready wearables with a built-in display and neural wristband. The big selling point is the ability to overlay helpful context and UI as the user pinches and swipes their fingers to navigate; think responding to a text message without needing to pull out your phone, or visualizing pathways as you’re exploring a city.

The Ray-Ban Display also has the same 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor as the one on the standard Meta Ray-Bans, allowing it to capture photos and videos from eye level.

What’s the deal with Verizon?

Currently, Verizon has the Ray-Ban Display–> listed at $799, the same price that you’ll find them if purchased directly from Meta, which is great. Perusing the carrier’s landing page, there don’t appear to be any prerequisites or commitment plans tied to the product, so you can think of it like buying from any other retailer.

Verizon

Like Meta, you’ll have to schedule a demo to purchase the smart glasses. In fact, you’re redirected to Meta’s reservation availability page when doing so. From there, typing in your zip code will populate all your nearby Verizon stores with open time slots. You’ll want to book fast; at the time of writing, my local carrier store is already booked until mid-November.

Also: Watch out, Meta: Samsung just confirmed its smart glasses plans (with some spicy hints)

This isn’t the first time Verizon has served as a channel partner for Meta smart glasses — it did the same when the first Ray-Ban models came out years ago. So I wouldn’t be too hesitant about buying from the carrier. 

I’m just glad to see another opportunity open up to folks who missed out on the first wave of Ray-Ban Display reservations. Hopefully, you secure a spot this time — before it’s too late.


Source: Robotics - zdnet.com