Snapchat has finally announced its first hardware product that would be the future of snapping memories. Snapchat’s first hardware product is a $130 connected sunglasses that will 10-second video snippets.
First things first, Snapchat is rebranding itself as Snap, Inc which will leave many shouting “Oh, Snap” but it implies how the company wants to be more than just a social platform. Snapchat’s connected spectacles have a single button recording your snap with the press of that button. According to Wall Street Journal, the camera uses a 115-degree wide angle lens which should more closely recognise a person’s field of vision.
Wall Street Journal also states that the cameras record circular video and aims to reproduce results from a user’s point of view. Speaking with Journal about a recent hike, CEO Evan Spiegel said “When I got the footage back and watched it, I could see my own memory, through my own eyes — it was unbelievable.” He added,”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.”
Snapchat’s connected goggles is more like a toy than a real product. Snap Inc says the product will be rolled out gradually in slow numbers. Snapchat has been in the cusp of becoming a breakthrough product. Some of its core features have been copied extensively by its rivals Facebook, Apple, Google lately and the newly introduced connected sunglasses offer a whole new opportunity and audience for the company.
Snapchat’s connected sunglasses want to be everything that Google Glass could not be. It is seen as a fashion accessory that does little more than fashion rather than a scientific glass meant for a restricted set of use.