ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Preorders are open for Oakley Meta HSTN smart glasses.
- The estimated arrival is as early as Tuesday, Aug. 26
- Pricing starts at $399.00
If you want to be first in line to secure the new Oakley Meta smart glasses, your time has arrived.
Preorders are now open for the Oakley Meta HSTN glasses, which start at $399.99, on both the Oakley and Meta websites — and you can have them in your hands in less than a week. When I clicked through the purchasing process on Oakley’s site, I was given a shipping estimate of Tuesday, Aug. 26. Meta’s site, however, offered a delivery date of Aug. 26.
You can purchase the glasses in several colors, including black, brown, and gray, and with several lens options like clear, transition, Prizm black polarized, and Prizm Ruby (which uses color tuning to “enhance contrast and detail, revealing visual cues that are difficult to see with traditional lenses”). Most color and lens options were available for preorder when I checked, but a few weren’t. Prescription lenses aren’t available just yet, but will be soon.
Also: I spent a weekend with Meta’s new Oakley smart glasses – they beat my Ray-Bans in every way
This is Meta’s latest collaboration for smart glasses, the first being last year’s Ray-Ban edition. The Oakley Meta smart glasses have a built-in, hands-free camera that lets you record your surroundings, speakers that let you make calls or listen to music, a microphone, onboard AI that can answer your questions, and more.
Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses
The original Meta Ray-Ban glasses debuted a little more than a year ago to pretty high praise (and they’re still widely loved). While the aesthetic differences between the two are obvious (the Oakleys are significantly more “sporty”), the Oakley glasses bring some big tech upgrades, too.
The Oakleys have an advertised use time of about eight hours compared to the Ray-Bans’ four hours. And Meta says that you can charge the new glasses to 50% in just 20 minutes. The Oakley glasses also include a significantly upgraded camera (from 1080p to 3K “Ultra HD”), and an IPX4 water resistance rating, a step-up in durability from the Ray-Bans.
Also: We tested the best AR and MR glasses: Here’s how the Meta Ray-Bans stack up
Those upgrades do come with a price, as you can pick up the Meta Ray-Bans for $299.00. If you’re trying to decide between the two, ZDNET’s Sabrina Ortiz breaks down the advantages of each here.
Ortiz spent a week with the Oakley Meta glasses and came away fairly impressed with the high-resolution camera and battery life, and our own Jason Howell tried them as well, pointing out that while they’re designed for “athletes, adventurers, and creators who want an easy way to grab immersive POV clips in action-oriented environments,” they’re useful for anyone who wants quick, off-the-cuff social videos (as long as you’re fine with the sports-focused design).
