The “Snapchat Selfie” may become a thing of the past with the launch of the messaging app firm’s first gadget – Spectacles.
The sunglasses have a built in camera and are due to go on sale later this year priced at £100. The glasses will allow the wearer to record up to 10 seconds of video at a time. Along with the Spectacle announcement, Snapchat have made the decision to rename itself to Snap, Inc. The decision has come from the company’s dreams to be more than just the messaging app.
Some limited information has been issued about how the Spectacles will work, videos will be recorded in a new, circular format and the battery is expected to last around a day.
Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Snap’s 26-year-old creator Evan Spiegel explained his creation of the Spectacles.
“It was our first vacation, and we went to [Californian state park] Big Sur for a day or two. We were walking through the woods, stepping over logs, looking up at the beautiful trees.
“And when I got the footage back and watched it, I could see my own memory, through my own eyes – it was unbelievable.
“It’s one thing to see images of an experience you had, but it’s another thing to have an experience of the experience. It was the closest I’d ever come to feeling like I was there again.”
Snap’s creation may remind may people of the disappointing Google Glass. Google’s attempt was riddled with issues. The $1,500 price tag put off the majority of consumers, followed by issues with hardware meaning that the glass was difficult to use consistently without problem.
It is likely that Snap, Inc. will gain a lot of support from popular celebrities that already frequently use the messaging app, Snapchat. Along with the relatively affordable price, Snap’s Spectacles stand a good chance of being a success.
“If you look at the kinds of glasses millennials wear, the design is very ‘in’,” suggested Carolina Milanesi, a consumer technology analyst from Creative Strategies.
“Making them sunglasses helps hide the camera better, but it also limits the usage somewhat – you’ll need to be outside in daylight.
She added: “The name change is interesting as it would indicate a change in focus away from messaging, which with Spectacles makes sense. Snap is perhaps becoming more about life-logging, content generation and story-telling.”
It remains to be seen if Snap’s spectacles will be the gadget of 2016 or if they will follow in the footsteps of Google Glass, however we look forward to experiencing the filters that the Spectacles will undoubtedly offer.
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