Snap Inc. releases Snapchat Spectacles

Snap Inc. releases Snapchat Spectacles

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by Nisha Shankar and Anya Weaver

Snap Inc. (formerly the company Snapchat) announced their first hardware product, Snapchat Spectacles on Sept. 24.

The Spectacles are worn as sunglasses and have cameras that record a 115 degree view and can take 10 second videos with the press of a button. The videos are uploaded instantly to Snapchat.

On the same day as announcing the Spectacles, Snapchat changed its name to Snap Inc. while keeping the name of its app as Snapchat. This name change is intended to allow for the release of more new products.

According to a Sept. 24 Snap Inc. press release, the spectacles will feature one of the smallest wireless video cameras in the world, which can take a day’s worth of Snaps on a single charge.

Students are not certain about the convenience of the the Spectacles.

“I think they are pretty interesting but I do not know how useful they will really be, because it does not take that much effort to [take] a short video with your phone,” Nirban Bhatia (11) said. “Maybe it might be more convenient for others.”

Other students think the appearance of the sunglasses sets them apart from similar products.

“It still looks good, unlike other things like the Google glasses [Google Glass] – which look really, really weird,” Ayesha Baweja (9) said.

The sunglasses will cost $129.99. It is slightly cheaper than the average Fitbit and a fraction of the cost of the Google Glass before it was discontinued.

Although the direction is right, some students would like to see more happening with the new product.

“I think it’s good, and that it can progress further, but I don’t know how new and progressive they are in terms of the actual technology.” Jared Anderson (10) said

Although they do not quite consider the product completely unique, students did praise the idea.

“I think they are pretty cool, because like if you are like biking or like skateboarding or just walking around, you can just turn them on and don’t have to take your phone out; it’s kinda more immersive.” Christopher Leafstrand (10) said.

Reservations aside, the Spectacles offer a glimpse of an interesting future.

“I guess every single accessory that people wear nowadays will start to become more and more integrated into the applications on their phone,” Andrew Gu (12) said. “That means that in the future, social media will become a much bigger component of everyone’s life.”

Snap Inc. has yet to announce the release date for the Spectacles.