“Spectacles” will let you automatically upload first person POV videos to your SnapChat Memories.

After recently dropping the “Chat” part from their name, Snap Inc. is re-branding themselves as “a camera company” and launching their first piece of wearable tech: Spectacles.

The sunglasses come in three colours, black, teal and coral and have a fun, beachy vibe.

specs colours

 

After teasing this brand new product back in September, the Snap Spectacles are now available to buy.

On Thursday, a number of vending machines started popping up in random locations, but only for 24 hours.

The giant yellow “Bots” feature a screen, three big buttons to push (one for each color of glasses) and a place to swipe your credit card. And of course an opening from your Spectacles will be dispensed.

The screen on the bot also has the ability to show you a virtual image of what the three different coloured Spectacles will look on the purchaser.

 

Here’s a video of the wearable tech in action:

 

According to Snap, this first person point of view will allow for a more visceral way for you and your friends to experience your memories than what you get from just holding your phone/camera. The 10-second videos from the Spectacles are also circular to achieve a more “human perspective.”

Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snap, described how the glasses transformed his latest vacation videos in a recent Wall Street Journal article: “‘[W]hen I got the footage back and watched it, I could see my own memory, through my own eyes—it was unbelievable. It’s one thing to see images of an experience you had, but it’s another thing to have an experience of the experience.’”

The Spectacles will be able to record a full day’s worth of memories on a single charge, and will wirelessly deliver them via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi directly to your Snapchat account.

Specs capture

 

 

 

The glasses are $130US before taxes and there have been a number of pairs popping up on eBay with bids getting to more than $600 for a single pair.

Other bad news if you’re dying to get your hands on a pair, as of right now no Spectacle Bots have been spotted in Canada.

 

 

 

Filed under: snap, snapchat, spectacles, technology