Snappy Specs To Be Eye-Catcher
The outfit formerly known as Snapchat has kicked up a gear and surprised the world with a mass market pair of hi-tech specs.
Its name now honed down to Snap Inc – the company is moving on from the fading popularity of its messaging App with a first hardware product launching into the wearables market.
Called Spectacles, it has a single function – to capture video for sharing.
The wearer can instantly capture what they see in fixed length 10 – second increments, up to a maximum of half a minute. The resultant film can be stored on the glasses for downloading by wi-fi, or, in the case of iPhones and iPads, via Bluetooth.
The key question is whether, like Google Glass, these will flop as fashion faux pas.
It seems a fair bet that this fate will be fended off.
The specs look snappy, with modern, fresh, circular frames in teal, coral or black. The camera, built into the frame, cleverly avoids that awkward, unsymmetrical look that blighted ’s effort. The other issue that damaged the image of Glass, not knowing if a wearer was filming when they looked at you, is also sidestepped. This item has two lights, one inward facing to the user, one outward facing to the public, to let both know that video capture is in progress. If you fancy a pair, be warned they may be hard to get hold of.
The company has announced a limited release later in the Autumn at a projected cost of about £100.
Net watchers speculate that demand will outstrip supply. Will they light up the market or be left in the shade? We must wait and see.
