Undeterred by the spectacular commercial failure of Google Glass, Snapchat announced Friday night it is releasing a new product called “Spectacles.”
The glasses – available this fall – have a small camera with a circle of tiny lights that allow the user to record up to 10 seconds of video with each tap of a button near the hinge, according to the Wall Street Journal.
CEO Evan Spiegel told the paper the images will be vastly different from what someone can record conventionally, with a smartphone. Spiegel says the 115-degree-lens will record circular video, akin to how human eyes view the world, and will free one’s hands to do more interesting things will snapping.
Spiegel, who studied product design at Stanford before pursuing Snapchat, says he has worked for years to create the companies first hardware issue. Despite the extensive effort, he calls Spectacles a toy, built for people to have fun – not to be the game-changer that Google Glass was meant to be.
Spectacles will go on sale for $129.99, but the distribution will be limited (at least initially).
