Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) Review: Technically an Upgrade

Just a few years ago, smart glasses were still a novelty defined by the ghost of Google Glass and niche products like Snap’s oft-overlooked Spectacles. But times have changed, and now Meta is the most major gravitational force in the space. With its newfound hardware relevance, it’s not just looking to win by being the first major player to popularize the category; it’s looking to be prolific. It’s looking for more smart glasses, and lots of them. One of the newest side effects of that blanketing approach is the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3)—yes, count ’em, three generations. It’s hard to believe that we’re already here, but here we be, and with another iteration of Ray-Ban Meta glasses out in the world, things are starting to look a bit iterative. Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) The Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) have better battery life and some hardware tweaks, but not much else that makes them a major upgrade over the last generation. Longer battery Adjustable temple tips Slightly thinner arms Calling quality doesn't seem to have improved Expensive Same old can of worms privacy-wise Still quirks with Muse Mostly the same as last generation A small upgrade, but an upgrade nonetheless The list of what’s the same in the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) smart glasses is longer and more salient than the list of what’s new. In this generation, which starts at $449, you get the same 12-megapixel camera with up to 3K video capture, the same AI feature set, the same controls, the same general feel on your face, the same (albeit very good) audio quality, and the same existential dread that comes with using a Meta product. All of that leads to the logical next question: what exactly makes this a new product other than the number 3 instead of 2? © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo First, there’s the battery. Meta has extended the battery life of the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) by one hour this go-around to nine hours max. That nine-hour figure, one should note, is with general/mixed use, meaning it varies greatly by what you’re doing with your glasses and for how long. One of the first things that I did when I tried the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) was to put that battery life to the test, and it does look like you are indeed getting some extra juice. While the previous generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses logged about five hours of battery life with constant audio playback, my test would suggest the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) are getting about six. After an hour of testing music playback on the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) at about 60% volume, the smart glasses fell from 100% to 85%, which would equate to more than six hours total. Not a huge improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. Another feature Meta worked on in this generation is calling, which was already quite good in previous generations. Specifically, Meta says it included one more microphone in the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) smart glasses, for a grand total of six, which is meant to better cancel out background noise, cutting it by as much as 90%. Naturally, I put this to the test, too, and the results were… not great. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Previous generations were rock solid with environmental noise cancellation (I’ve had conversations in the middle of Midtown Manhattan without people knowing I was outside), but the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) seemed to pick up more of my surroundings. While my voice was never fully obscured by background noise like some other cheap pairs of wireless earbuds or headphones, both people I called reported hearing cars, trains, and people talking quite clearly in the background during our several-minute conversations. I tested calling outdoors in the real world and indoors with simulated background noise from my laptop, and on both occasions, there was a perceivable amount of ambient noise, according to the people I called. Don’t get me wrong, the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) still have better call quality than most smart glasses and the vast majority of wireless earbuds and headphones, but based on my testing, they didn’t feel like the major upgrade that Meta made them out to be. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo One high point audio-wise, however, is the addition of spatial audio, which started rolling out via a software update in September. I would highly recommend going in and enabling the option in the Meta AI app if you haven’t already. Audio has always been a bright spot in the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, but spatial audio definitely adds more dimension. In fact, going back to non-spatial audio feels a bit tinny in comparison. If you’re going to be listening to music in your Meta-made smart glasses, you should give it a whirl—just go to your device in the Meta AI app, tap on “Audio,” and toggle it on. Make sure you’re on the latest software first! While you’re there, you can also note new features like mono audio, which plays the same audio on both sides of the glasses, and a new audio balance feature that lets you increase volume to one side if you want. Both are meant to be accessibility-focused updates, so it may not be applicable to everyone, but it’s nice to have. While I would have loved to try 360-degree spatial audio capture with Dolby Atmos, that won’t be out until later this year. Some tiny tweaks to hardware © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo One of the most obvious things you’ll notice in Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) are some new styles. The one I’m testing is the Zena, which have a cat’s-eye frame, but there’s also the classic Aviator shape this time around. I don’t think either is really breaking new ground in terms of glasses style, but it’s nice to have more options, and all the styles now have adjustable temple tips, which is good if you have a wider head that’s prone to getting squeezed. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo In addition to the new styles, the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) are also slightly thinner, reducing arm height by 1mm, which isn’t a whole ton of shrinkage, but they do feel discernibly less beefy if you’ve been paying attention. Speaking of shrinkage, the camera is also less noticeable. Like the Meta Fury smart glasses that I tested, Meta made the camera 36% smaller than the previous generation, which feels like somehow an upgrade and a downgrade. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo It’s an upgrade for anyone who wants their smart glasses to look more like regular glasses, but potentially a downgrade for anyone who’s worried about smart glasses encroaching on their privacy. With a smaller camera and overall profile, the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) are harder to spot. While Meta recently introduced Private Processing, a technology that’s meant to protect user data, the company didn’t make much of an effort to address external privacy concerns from a hardware perspective. There’s no shutter for the camera or anything like that, nor any novel features like HTC’s optional voice command feature that allows people to say “stop filming” to disable recording. There’s still a capture LED that shows when you’re recording, which is hopefully more difficult to tamper with, but that hasn’t exactly been effective in stopping people from recording others without their knowledge. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Similar pain points persist elsewhere, too. While I think Muse, Meta’s newest AI model, is a significant upgrade to the AI experience in Meta’s smart glasses (I wrote as much in my last review of Meta’s smart glasses), there are still quirks, to say the least. For instance, I cannot get it to play ambient music on Spotify, for some reason. Every time I ask it to do so, it just plays my liked songs. It’s a small thing, but if you use Muse for long enough, you’ll encounter your own idiosyncrasies. An iteration at its most iterative With all of that sameness accounted for, the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) do feel like a light iteration on the previous generation, albeit with some perks. This generation still has the longest battery life, for example, and the thinner arms and adjustable temple tips are perks. On the less bright side, calling, which was supposed to be improved, doesn’t feel upgraded to me. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Mostly, these are similar smart glasses that prune around the edges, and while the software upgrades are nice, they’re not exclusive to the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3), so it’s difficult for me to urge anyone to rush out and buy a pair if they already own the last generation. For now, Meta appears to be in an iteration stage, which is fine for first-time buyers but a bit stale for anyone who’s already invested.