Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, has unveiled the fifth generation of its augmented reality glasses, dubbed Spectacles. These new standalone AR glasses feature a see-through design, allowing users to engage with ‘Lenses’ and explore their environment in unique ways alongside friends.

The latest Spectacles are powered by Snap OS, a dedicated operating system designed to enhance user interactions with their surroundings. They are now accessible through Snap’s Spectacles Developer Program.

“Spectacles represent a culmination of ten years of research and development aimed at creating hardware that transcends screens and fosters real-world connections,” Snap stated.

The new glasses feature remarkable hardware specifications, weighing only 226 grams—less than half that of a typical VR headset. They are equipped with four cameras that drive the Snap Spatial Engine, facilitating smooth hand tracking.

At the core of the Spectacles is Snap’s proprietary Optical Engine, which utilizes Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) micro-projectors and advanced waveguides. These elements collaborate to produce vivid images with a 46-degree diagonal field of view and a resolution of 37 pixels per degree.

Powered by a dual system-on-a-chip architecture, the glasses use two Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, enabling immersive experiences while keeping power consumption low. This design provides up to 45 minutes of continuous use on a single charge.

Snap OS offers an intuitive interface navigable through hand gestures and voice commands. The Snap Spatial Engine comprehends the surrounding environment, allowing Lenses to appear lifelike in three dimensions with a minimal motion-to-photon latency of just 13 milliseconds.

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Encouraging Developer Adoption

To encourage developers to adopt Spectacles, Snap has introduced them with “no developer tax” and has rolled out new tools to simplify the creation and sharing of Lenses.

Lens Studio 5.0, an overhauled development environment, allows developers to quickly launch projects on Spectacles. The new Spectacles Interaction Kit facilitates the creation of user-friendly Lenses without the need for extensive custom interaction systems.

The updated Lens Studio now supports TypeScript and JavaScript, along with enhanced version control features for team collaboration. SnapML allows the integration of custom machine learning models directly within Lenses for tasks like object recognition, tracking, and augmentation.

Additionally, Snap has partnered with OpenAI to bring cloud-based multimodal AI models to Spectacles, offering developers tools to enhance contextual understanding within their applications.

The Spectacles Developer Program is available in the U.S. for $99 per month with a one-year commitment, providing access to Spectacles hardware and support from Snap to help developers realize their visions.

Several prominent partners are already utilizing Lens Studio and Snap OS to create innovative Lenses for Spectacles. Notable collaborations include LEGO Group’s BRICKTACULAR, an interactive AR game controlled by gestures and voice commands, and ILM Immersive, Lucasfilm’s interactive studio, which is developing Star Wars-themed experiences. Niantic is also working to bring popular games like Peridot and Scaniverse to the platform.

Snap’s latest release signifies a significant advancement in merging digital experiences with the real world. However, the success of Spectacles and Snap OS will largely hinge on the creativity and innovation of the developer community.