r/Blind • u/shamaman2 • 28d ago
Technology Ray Ban Meta
Hi , has anyone tried the Ray Ban Meta, will it be useful for a visually impaired person.
3
u/Tarnagona 27d ago
I love the concept and see the potential, and these glasses have a much more reasonable price tag than the blind-specific tech that does similar. However, I don’t trust having Facebook/Meta looking through my eyes and seeing what I’m about, given their past record with user data and privacy. (That, and I specifically need wraparound sunglasses, and I’ve only seen the Meta glasses with open sides but maybe they have more styles I’m not aware of)
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u/suitcaseismyhome 28d ago edited 27d ago
Hello, from onboard and aircraft.I am in ultra frequent flyer.
They are absolutely game changing for me.
It can read the signs at the gate.They can read my boarding pass
I used them to call me my eyes and have someone described the lounge.Buffet to me in german
I can listen to my audible book through the glasses
I can make calls on what's up and listen to my messages
Honestly, only having had them for a few days, they are so game changing
The only caution is I did not buy mine in germany or set them up there because of privacy restrictions on the app
3
u/motobojo 27d ago
For those of you requiring prescription lenses be aware that there is a restriction on the strength of the prescription that can be accommodated by these frames. The absolute value of the prescription must be less than or equal to 6. I'm aphakic and have a prescription outside of this range, so these frames aren't available to me.
4
u/akrazyho 28d ago
Yes, I have my school has a pair that we can demo. None of the students at my blind school are going to buy them after using them for any extended amount of time. Well, actually, one student, but they are blind and are way up there in age and thinks they are nifty pieces of Tech.
They are an interesting concept, but they are not geared towards a visually impaired or blind community. And while they do work with me and my eyes now the experience is lackluster because the connection quality on the video is bad, you would have to be wearing them right on top of your microwave control panel and not moving a lot for them to make out any sort of good recognizable resolution. It also makes an awful lot of assumption about street signs unless it’s an obvious sign like a speed limit sign or a stop sign that’s ginormous as they tend to be plus the street sign itself with the name of the street on it it will not read unless you’re a good maybe 3 to 5 feet away from it which isn’t very helpful in a lot of cases.
There are some people on here that swear by them, but it’s really up to you whether or not you think you need them honestly though you can get by with a free app and do a whole lot better for yourself. This is my personal opinion, but I don’t care that. They’re on sale on right now. They’re practically a joke
5
u/suitcaseismyhome 28d ago
I don't think that's a fairer assessment.Because it really depends on what people need them for and their lifestyle
I do have concerns about privacy rights, but to say that they are a joke is disingenuous
They may not fit into your lifestyle but for me they have been fabulous so far.
2
u/suitcaseismyhome 27d ago
One other aspect of this is safety.
Not having to pull my phone out every time is actually something that I find very useful.
It also reduces my risk by one or a fair by not having to pull out the phone and visibly be vulnerable
4
u/blinddruid 28d ago
I really can’t speak to them as I do not have a pair, and really only know about them or how well they work from comments, such as those here or from the blind life YouTube channel it didn’t sound to me as those Sam was particularly impressed with them. He gets the chance to review so much tech and really test it pretty rigorously. I think you could be happy with them if you temper your expectations of what they can do. I would like to see them divorced from being associated with Facebook and take advantage of such technology is or cam or something of that nature. Right now I use Seeing AI, and it does work fairly well for me, and I think it rated the same as that the phone app, at least right now, offers much more functionality. my fingers are crossed, I hope they go somewhere, offer something more than just being a nice piece of kit for Facebook. Right now as I see it, I guess I should say as I’ve heard it. They really don’t do anything that I can’t do with my phone.
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u/Ok-Virus-2198 28d ago
How useful you'll find them depends on your needs and expectations. I'm proud user of Rayband Meta AI Smart glasses since June 5, 2024 and do not regret a moment having them. I got them just because I wanted to do live streaming on Facebook while I'm walking around. As a blind person, it's kinda hard to have a steady shot while walking with white cane in one hand and phone in another. But, when I got the glasses, turned out they can do so much more. Let's start with disclamer and the most important thing - the glasses are made for general public, not for blind community. They are made for everyday people who can see, there fore price is just around 300 USD unlike blind specific oriented glasses with 10 times higher price tag. When this point has been processed and understood, let me tell you about features blind people love about Rayband Meta AI smart glasses: Hands free experience. Yes, taking out your phone from your pocket, swiping on the screen to find the Seeing AI, Aira Explorer, or Be My Eyes app to take a pic, find a messaging messaging app to write a text, or phone app to call someone while holding a cane in other hand is cool for sure, especially in crowded places, but, how about keeping your phone in your pocket or bag and just saying: "Hey, Meta - Look and tell", " What do I see?", "Send text message on phone to Alice", "Call Dad on Whatsapp", or most latest feature - "Hey, Meta - Be My Eyes:. For sure, they are not perfect, they do not read longer texts on page in front of you. They hallucinate sometimes, and response time is too slow to find which bus is arriving to a bus stop. But, as I said, they are not blind oriented, so we can't blame them for that. Reason why they are slow is that all processing of data takes place in cloud - online. Depending on how good is your WiFi or mobile data connection to the Meta AI servers you may get response fast or have to put same request again, because connection timed out. Response is limited to 250 characters, so from a page in front of you they can read at best one paragraph or summarize whole text. But after using them for a while, one learns how to prompt AI to get out of it what is needed. If you're using Facebook, there's a community created group called "Blind users of Rayband Meta smart glasses" where you'll be able to find almost any answer to your question and read how the glasses are actually helping other users.
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u/scottr9870 26d ago
Thanks very much for this awesome post. While on this particular topic, can anyone advise is there a command you can say to meta to read the entire document that it has taken a picture of? I have heard from other users of these glasses that it is very difficult to get the assistant to read an entire document that you have taken a picture of. Any info would be appreciated on this.
1
u/HumanPinball4 21d ago
I’ve been using mine for a while and love them for a number of reasons. for starters, I surprised myself by getting quite into taking photos and videos. I’ve never been much of a camera user, but given how easy it is to just take something and how easy it is to have some success with where I am pointing, I’ve really liked being able to do this. My sighted wife likes it too as suddenly I’m taking photos like never before. And the videos are great - the sound is stereo and sounds fantastic so I’ve been able to capture some audio moments that I can listen back to. And I can ask PiccyBot to describe the photos later.
I also love the communication features. I was walking somewhere and a tree had fallen down so I just told the glasses to take a photo and send them to the wife. She sent back a panicky message asking if I was OK, which the glasses spoke. I then replied with my voice and told her that it was fine I was just showing her what had happened. I just carried on walking as I was doing this without having to stop and fiddle with the phone.
On another occasion I couldn’t find where the post man had placed a parcel. I video called my wife on WhatsApp and she managed to look through my eyes and found the parcel had been thrown into a bush which I would never have found on my own.
I’ve been using the AI here in the UK for a while. Like most AI it is a bit erratic but I’ve found it really useful for low stakes questions. I use them to help to read labels which it is a bit hit and miss with but usually gets it. Sometimes it blows my mind. I was asking it to read the label of a wine bottle, which it did. I asked what food would go with it, and it gave me a very long description. So I just said “ok, how about butter chicken?” And then it said yes it would go well and then told me about how such and such a flavour would complement the flavour of the food. Whether it is accurate or not, who knows, but it was something I could do on my own, hands free. Or if I am out and about I can ask it to describe buildings and it will often recognise landmarks and give me detailed information about them. I asked it to read what was on a bench and it told me it was Latin and translated it for me. Like with all AI it is incredible when it works. I have been using it with a VPN and there is talk that they are clamping down on it so it might not continue to work in the UK which would be a shame. The voice only AI is quite nice too but not as useful for those of us who can’t see.
But even that can work well. One time we were driving and I asked it where we were. It isn’t exactly detailed with this - usually just giving the time. I asked it to tell me a fun fact about the place and it told me dinosaur remains had been found, so I was able to have a good discussion about it - what dinosaur was it, wat size was it, was it one with tiny T rex arms and so on.
An example of where it’s less good is if you ask something like “what direction am I facing?” And it will confidently say something like “north”. But if you don’t move and ask it again you will likely get a different answer. And then you remember, it’s AI and it’s just making up stuff it doesn’t know.
I do have Be My Eyes integration so I can just ask the glasses to be my eyes and it calls a volunteer. I’ve not tried this myself but it apparently works very well.
Also remember that they are Bluetooth earphones too so you can use your pone and VoiceOver will come out of the speakers. Not great for anything too private as they leak a lot but otherwise really useful. I’ve had Voice Vista coming out through the speakers and it works pretty well.
The only problem I’ve had here is that I found it went a little weird when I had both Voice Vista open and was trying to use Hey Meta commands. Seems to be just me as I don’t think anyone else has this conflict but it is a bit annoying as it means it is one or the other for me.
I think they are incredible, particularly given the price. And new features come along all the time. Just be careful that the ones you want are supported in your country.
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u/razzretina ROP / RLF 28d ago
Honestly you can get everything and more that these do by just buying some bone conduction headphones. If you're tired of having to pull your phone out of your pocket all the time, Slinger is a good lanyard that sticks to the back of your case so you can have your phone around your neck instead.
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u/SLJ7 28d ago
Lots of blind people find them useful. I use them to ask Meta AI about signs, product labels, and other visual information; make video calls and get visual help with a first-person view; and take really easy photos and videos.
There are services like Be My Eyes that are integrating with the glasses too. Also, they allow you to hear your phone without earbuds in, which is great for basic navigation using GPS apps or just walking down the street while listening to a podcast.