 There's a saying in photography that the best camera is the one that you have on you. So what if that statement was literally true? What if you could wear a camera almost all the time? That's the promise of Snap Spectacles. And they're pretty awesome. Now Spectacles are the first hardware product from Snap Inc, the company formerly known as Snapchat, and they really deliver on that promise. Even for someone like me who carries around a camera all the time, I'd really consider bringing these with me as well. And a part of that is that they tie right into the Snapchat app. Every video you shoot on these glasses gets sent right to your phone, and from there you can edit it and upload it or share it to your friends. I've spent about a week with Spectacles and I've found three really good use cases for them. One is experiential videos, two is face-to-face interactions with the people that you know and love, and three is making videos that look and feel like memories. Now Spectacles are good at experiential videos because they leave your hands free. It lets you interact with whatever you're doing without having to juggle a camera. There's also a really wide angle lens on this, not quite as wide as a GoPro, but it works in the same way as sort of stretching the image and making everything look a little bit more exciting, especially if it's only at arm's length. Landscapes and open scenes look pretty good in Spectacles, but where you're really going to see it shine is when you're holding something in your hands or playing around with something at arm's length. Spectacles are also really good at filming interactions with people and that's because Snap went out of its way to make sure that everybody knows that you're recording and that's what this whole recording light is about. Instead of an ominous red light that's telling everybody that you're filming them, it's this friendlier white wheel of lights that spins and sort of lets everybody participate in the experience if they want. Hi dude, can I get a Schachburger fries and a large iced tea? You got a drink tray? I needed that. Part of that is the fact that the camera shoots at 60 frames a second. Another part is the wide angle lens, but it's really actually all about the fact that the camera sits there right at eye level. It's almost impossible to get that point of view with basically any other camera and it makes a world of difference. Even if you're not in the video in the end, being able to capture something the way that you saw it is a really powerful thing. There were boring videos that I shot of me pouring coffee or opening the door that I still felt an emotional connection with that I wouldn't normally feel if I had shot them with anything else. And then of course there were more emotionally impactful moments like greeting my dog at the end of the day or going out on a date with my girlfriend where it really shines. So there's two big problems with spectacles. They don't really ruin the experience, but you are going to have to live with them if you want to use these. One is if you shoot a lot of videos with spectacles, transferring those videos can be a pain in the ass. Right now we've spent a good chunk of the day shooting this video and shooting videos on spectacles and it is now trying to import 83 videos. The problem as it builds a bunch of those videos up and waits to transfer them is it takes a lot longer. If you shoot maybe 5 or 10 videos, it'll take you about 10 seconds of video to transfer, but if you shoot 83 of them, it sort of bogs down and it's taking a lot longer than 10 seconds. It's taking like 20 or 30 seconds. The other big problem with spectacles has to do with the user interface. With spectacles you shoot the video on the glasses, you have to wait for them to transfer, and then once they've transferred, the app dumps them all into day by day groups. And so you have to go into each day and slide all the way over to find the video that you want. Then tap again to edit or do whatever you want with it, and then tap again to be able to post it to your stories. It's just three or four times as long of a process, if not longer, than any other interaction you do inside the Snapchat app. And that's after you figure all that stuff out. There's definitely still a learning curve here if you haven't used Snapchat a lot. But if you take a couple steps back, I feel like there's more going on here than these just being a supplement to Snapchat. I think the reason that Snap is calling itself a camera company now is that it's starting to test out bigger ideas, like being able to capture videos from your point of view that feel like memories. And in that sense, spectacles feel more like a beta test for what's coming next. Sure, they're $130, they're really hard to buy right now, and the video quality isn't quite there yet. But the ideas that spectacles represent are much bigger than what we have today. No, I got this, hold on. Google Glass or a GoPro.
 There's a saying in photography that the best camera is the one that you have on you.
 So what if that statement was literally true?
 What if you could wear a camera almost all the time?
 That's the promise of Snap Spectacles.
 And they're pretty awesome.
 Now Spectacles are the first hardware product from Snap Inc, the company formerly known
 as Snapchat, and they really deliver on that promise.
 Even for someone like me who carries around a camera all the time, I'd really consider
 bringing these with me as well.
 And a part of that is that they tie right into the Snapchat app.
 Every video you shoot on these glasses gets sent right to your phone, and from there you
 can edit it and upload it or share it to your friends.
 I've spent about a week with Spectacles and I've found three really good use cases for
 them.
 One is experiential videos, two is face-to-face interactions with the people that you know
 and love, and three is making videos that look and feel like memories.
 Now Spectacles are good at experiential videos because they leave your hands free.
 It lets you interact with whatever you're doing without having to juggle a camera.
 There's also a really wide angle lens on this, not quite as wide as a GoPro, but it works
 in the same way as sort of stretching the image and making everything look a little
 bit more exciting, especially if it's only at arm's length.
 Landscapes and open scenes look pretty good in Spectacles, but where you're really going
 to see it shine is when you're holding something in your hands or playing around with something
 at arm's length.
 Spectacles are also really good at filming interactions with people and that's because
 Snap went out of its way to make sure that everybody knows that you're recording and
 that's what this whole recording light is about.
 Instead of an ominous red light that's telling everybody that you're filming them, it's this
 friendlier white wheel of lights that spins and sort of lets everybody participate in
 the experience if they want.
 Hi dude, can I get a Schachburger fries and a large iced tea?
 You got a drink tray?
 I needed that.
 Part of that is the fact that the camera shoots at 60 frames a second.
 Another part is the wide angle lens, but it's really actually all about the fact that the
 camera sits there right at eye level.
 It's almost impossible to get that point of view with basically any other camera and it
 makes a world of difference.
 Even if you're not in the video in the end, being able to capture something the way that
 you saw it is a really powerful thing.
 There were boring videos that I shot of me pouring coffee or opening the door that I
 still felt an emotional connection with that I wouldn't normally feel if I had shot them
 with anything else.
 And then of course there were more emotionally impactful moments like greeting my dog at
 the end of the day or going out on a date with my girlfriend where it really shines.
 So there's two big problems with spectacles.
 They don't really ruin the experience, but you are going to have to live with them if
 you want to use these.
 One is if you shoot a lot of videos with spectacles, transferring those videos can be a pain in
 the ass.
 Right now we've spent a good chunk of the day shooting this video and shooting videos
 on spectacles and it is now trying to import 83 videos.
 The problem as it builds a bunch of those videos up and waits to transfer them is it
 takes a lot longer.
 If you shoot maybe 5 or 10 videos, it'll take you about 10 seconds of video to transfer,
 but if you shoot 83 of them, it sort of bogs down and it's taking a lot longer than 10
 seconds.
 It's taking like 20 or 30 seconds.
 The other big problem with spectacles has to do with the user interface.
 With spectacles you shoot the video on the glasses, you have to wait for them to transfer,
 and then once they've transferred, the app dumps them all into day by day groups.
 And so you have to go into each day and slide all the way over to find the video that you
 want.
 Then tap again to edit or do whatever you want with it, and then tap again to be able
 to post it to your stories.
 It's just three or four times as long of a process, if not longer, than any other interaction
 you do inside the Snapchat app.
 And that's after you figure all that stuff out.
 There's definitely still a learning curve here if you haven't used Snapchat a lot.
 But if you take a couple steps back, I feel like there's more going on here than these
 just being a supplement to Snapchat.
 I think the reason that Snap is calling itself a camera company now is that it's starting
 to test out bigger ideas, like being able to capture videos from your point of view
 that feel like memories.
 And in that sense, spectacles feel more like a beta test for what's coming next.
 Sure, they're $130, they're really hard to buy right now, and the video quality isn't
 quite there yet.
 But the ideas that spectacles represent are much bigger than what we have today.
 No, I got this, hold on.
 Google Glass or a GoPro.