A few weeks ago Snapchat announced that the company was going to transition from simply being an app/service to a technology company. The first part of the transition was rebranding the company as Snap and the second part was the introduction a new piece of wearable tech. The company’s first foray into the wearable space is a pair of glasses, simply called Spectacles. Think of them as something in between Google Glass and a life-blogging device, neither of which have faired very well in the market place. The failure of both of those devices likely has something to do with them being wearable recorders, which they also have in common with Spectacles. When we originally saw the announcement of Snapchat’s Spectacles, to us they seemed more like a gag product than something people would actually wait in line to spend $130 on. But apparently we were very wrong. Last week popup vending machines featuring the Spectacles, called Snapbots, began appearing, drawing tremendous lines. We never would have guessed it but Snap’s Spectacles seem to be a hit, for at least the 6 days out from launch. In fact, the connected glasses are reselling for as much as $5000 on eBay. But what exactly are they?
Snap’s Spectacles are plastic sunglasses that feature a camera placed in the outer corner of the frame. Opposite of the camera, is a small LED ring that indicates the device is recording. Style wise, the Spectacles are nothing note worthy. They look like any other plastic-y sunglass with the exception of two dime sized yellow rings surrounding the camera and LED ring. The electronics are housed inside two fairly unsightly boxes at the hinges. To record a 10 second clip, you simply tap a button on the top of one of the boxes. A low-res version of the clip is then transferred to your phone (a high-res version can only be obtained by connecting your phone to the Spectacles via WiFi). The camera features a 115 degree lens that is designed to mimic the human eye. Battery wise, Snap reports the wearable can record 16min of video before needing to be recharged. They claim this should be 1 day of casual use (96 10-second video clips in 24 hours does not seem casual use to us). The Spectacles can then be recharged via the case or directly from a special charging cable.
Snap is selling Spectacles only from popup vending machines which randomly appear around the country. The machines were specially designed for Snap and feature 3 large buttons (one for each color of the frames) and a circular video screen to allow you to virtually try on the glasses. Simply select the color you want, insert your credit card, and $130 later a plastic tube drops containing the sunglasses in a bright signature yellow case. The idea is pretty clever and creates buzz and artificial scarcity, both are great things for a tech company.
But are Spectacles more than just a passing fad? While we might be wrong, we don’t think the product has much legs. First, apparently there is a strong learning curve to getting decent footage. Between not being able to see what you are recording, not being able to tell if it is recording, and hair often dropping into the camera’s field of view, there are reports of it being a less than ideal camera. If you have ever strapped a GoPro to your head, you know exactly how infuriating the experience is (not to mention, your head never seems to move as smoothly as you think it does). Secondly, the device is just not user friendly. Sure, tapping a button and recording a clip is about as easy as it gets. But apparently the whole process falls apart after that. Recorded clips are placed in the little-used Memories section of the Snapchat app and can only be slowly browsed one clip at a time in chronological order. If you are what Snap refers to a “casual” user and record 96 clips a day, this is going to be an organizational nightmare. Add to that the need to connect to the Spectacles via WiFi anytime you want high-res clips and it seems like not enough thought was given to how users would obtain and interact with their clips. We are moving in a direction where technology is becoming more seamless and increasingly intuitive. Spectacles moves away from that model by not thinking about the end-to-end user experience. But then again, Snapchat is one of the most frustratingly convoluted apps out there and it has had zero effect on its popularity (the app feels like it was coded by a bunch of people who never sat in the same room and then was scotch-taped together, similar to the experience of using GoDaddy).
Just like Snapchat, Spectacles could very well find a long term audience despite design and usability issues – after all, there is a reason no review units were sent to the tech press. For the time being though, we are pretty happy using the high quality camera that is already integrated into the phones needed run the Snapchat app. But, we expect Spectacles will be on a lot of wish lists this holiday season.
