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New Spectacles are "obviously bad," former Snap engineer say

New Spectacles are "obviously bad," former Snap engineer says

Pictured: Jean Leon
By Jean Leon
September 20, 2024
Featured image for New Spectacles are

Recently, Snap announced a new model of Spectacles, its series of AR (augmented reality) glasses. However, a former Snapchat engineer who worked on the latest Spectacles claims that they are “obviously bad.” He also hints at problems during development.

New Snapchat Spectacles redesign and features a “disaster,” says engineer who worked on them

Creating a good tech product requires more than just integrating all the impressive technologies available. You also need to strike a balance between functionality and practicality. The new Spectacles boast a miniature LCOS projector in a limited space, which is a technological milestone. During the announcement, the company stated that you’re getting a limited 45° FOV and 45 minutes of continuous use. The battery life seems limited, but these are primarily for developers.

Sterling Crispin, a former Snap Spectacles engineer, lamented about the final result. “I worked on these for about a year at Snap, and I have a million negative things to say about the experience and the device, but I think the product speaks for itself and is obviously bad,” Crispin said on X. The engineer was especially harsh on the product, even calling it a “disaster.” So, even though he worked on the project, it seems he wants to completely disassociate himself from it.

Crispin also suggests that problems arose from misdirection during development. “This device is a set of very bad decisions that compounded, making them even worse,” he said. “Everyone working on it knew the problems and who was making them.”

In all fairness, Crispin did leave the company back in 2022. This was before any key hardware or software decisions were made. So, we have to take his comments with a grain of salt.

The Industry may not yet be ready for standalone AR glasses

That said, it seems that even the social media company is aware that the product is not suitable for the consumer market. Snap is currently offering the glasses to developers looking to enter the Snap OS AR ecosystem. Developers can access the new Spectacles through the Spectacles Developer Program. This costs $99/month with a minimum one-year period). People who sign up for this program also get access to the Snap Lab team and community connections.

AR glasses technology is advancing rapidly, and products are reaching more and more people. However, it seems that it is still too early to achieve a compelling standalone AR product with such a form factor. Recent reports say that Apple has realized this, so its first Apple Glasses will be similar to Ray-Ban Meta’s, without AR features. Current technological limitations are still an obstacle to overcome. However, Snapchat made it easy to backlash against the new Spectacles with an aesthetically bad redesign.