I wasn't expecting to like the Snapchat Spectacles just as much as I did. I must admit, I am always skeptical when it comes to a wearable I have to put on my face, my self-consciousness usually kicks in before I sheepishly end up taking them off.
On this occasion however, and despite the fact I was in a restaurant wearing sunglasses for the most part alongside the garish colour of pink that was attracting attention—they were brilliant and we couldn't stop playing around with the self proclaimed toy.
Snapchat Spectacles cost $130 USD, have video recording capabilities and are also a pretty neat pair of sunglasses. In all honesty, they feel like regular sunglasses and they look pretty good on just about anyone who tried them on.
Here's my mini review:
Packaging: 9/10
Even unveiling the Spectacles from the trapeze box was exciting—the shape and texture of the packaging made us even more excited to hook them up to our Snapchat accounts.
The box itself is a charging unit. Every time you dock the Spectacles they charge in the space-age container when you are indoors to ensure you are snapping the moments that matter when you are out and about. For me, this was a cool feature as it takes what is traditionally a wasted opportunity and turns it into a powerful unique selling point.
Comfort of the product: 9/10
Just like any other pair of sunglasses they fit on my face neatly, they were not heavy or distracting. In fact, I began to forget I was wearing them at all. Unlike the Google Glass, this product is not intrusive—you are not aware of the camera at all, it is seamlessly integrated and does not impair vision whatsoever.
The colour was probably my only qualm, as I do like the teal blue I have seen across Instagram, but beggars can't be choosers when you are the first person in Australia to try them on.
Once the Spectacles are sat comfortably on your face—you can get snap happy. By the touch of a button on the left hand side of the lens, the glasses begin recording a 10 second video clip. I liked the feature whereby you could click the button during a recording and it would begin again—I often find at events or gigs, I am trying to record the right moment and often end up with 20 videos before the winning moment is captured.
Ease of Connectivity: 6/10
Connecting the Spectacles is probably the only let down I could find which is a real shame—but ultimately, it is only an app update away from being seamless.
Traditionally you would expect to connect a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth device in the phone's native settings and that is where we looked for some time. We clicked the one button on the Spectacles numerous times and hoped it would appear—nada.
We then had the genius to look inside the Snapchat app, and lo and behold we found the Spectacles setting. In all fairness, we could have read the instructions too—but nobody has time for that.
Ease of Connectivity when you put aside native pairing: 10/10
Well, once we realised our error and began the process of pairing the Spectacles—it was a joyous experience. Simple, responsive and easy.
All you really had to do was select Spectacles in the settings menu, pair new device, look at the Snapcode and done.
We were so impressed with the speed at which the whole process was up and running once we completed this simple task.
How do they work? What were they like?
The Spectacles take videos really, really well. They don't do much else—but they have this feature nailed. You begin your snap adventure using Spectacles and within moments the footage is syncing to Snapchat on your camera device, which in my case was an iPhone. The best bit—they don't need to be connected to a phone to work, only when you want to view and post snaps.
You will find all your awesome Spectacle snaps under your memories and just like normal Snapchat you can add all sorts of emojis, text and drawings.
I also loved how Spectacles record circular video, so you can rotate your phone to see more of the image—a bit like a 360 photo on Facebook but slightly more awesome.
The video quality is great, which I am thankful for considering Snap Inc. is a camera first business.
I give the Snapchat Spectacles a final score of 9/10
What would I like to see next?
Where the Spectacles only take video, I can't wait to see a product that is able to also capture still images.
Without a doubt, these will be on my Christmas list and they should be on yours too.