The Snapchat spectacles!

Case / Charging cradle

Snapchat is starting something funky and dope at the same time! You probably have heard about the super rare and expensive Snapchat spectacles. They're only available through secret vending machines for $130, throughout the globe and also from eBay, for $800 to $2000. So what's so dope about these that has me interested in them?!樂

Remember Google glass? Yeah, this one has similar vibes to it. It has a camera on the right hand side yellow ring( after wearing) and a circular LED indicator on the left side. There's a button on top of the LED unit which lets you record 10 seconds of footage. Once you tap on it, the led ring starts spinning to let people know that you're up to something. After recording for 10 seconds, it transfers that footage via Bluetooth to your paired phone. If you want, you can stop recording mid-way, by long pressing the same button. You can still preview it in your Snapchat account and then release it only if you want to, so that's great news.

Click and start recording

While it's recording, there's also a tiny LED inside the spectacle, to remind the user that it's recording.

Pairing to your phone is super simple. Head over to the Snapchat app and select 'spectacles'. It'll give you a code that you record by pressing the button on your spectacles. That's it!! It'll pair and start importing footage from it. It also has a WiFi chip, so you can send video in SD resolution to your phone if you want, but it's super slow and probably not worth it.

circular resolution footage

Speaking of resolution, it records in a weird way. The recorded videos are in circular windows, not rectangular. So you can change your phone's orientation to view more or less of it, similar to a 360° video! So you can watch the entire spherical footage in different ways, just by rotating your phone. Now that's dope, even though it's a bit buggy as of now.

Connects the case to USB wall outlet

You get a spectacle case with it, which also acts as the charging cradle. It has a flat magnetic wire that snaps onto the back of the case, to a USB wall charger. The battery unit on the left of your spectacles, magnetically sits on the pins on the right side of the case's interior. The case also has a circular LED array to tell you the battery percentage, or you can double tap the side of your glasses to view it on there.

'Snapped' in and charging!

The spectacles are light and very well made. The battery unit is on the left along with the circular LED array. There's a copper wire running through the mid section of the spectacles, connecting the camera unit on the right side. The lithium ion battery can get you through a day of moderate usage. The only thing I don't like about them is the limited stocks that Snapchat is likely to make. I wish the vending machines were a little bit more common so more people can enjoy this intuitive and fun piece of hardware, without ripping off their wallets.

You can see where the next spectacle vending machine will pop up. Just click here.

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