Snap on the go

Global – Social media meets wearables in Snapchat’s newly launched sunglasses with built-in camera.

• Snapchat Spectacles mimic the social media platform in allowing 10 seconds of recorded footage
• With a 115-degree angle, the circular lens can capture more video material than a conventional smartphone camera

The spectacles have been designed to record circular footage rather than the traditional square and rectangular formats, which, in conjunction with the camera's eye-level perspective, will mean footage more closely resembles human vision and therefore more closely mimics users’ memory of an event.

The 10-second long clips, which users capture by pressing a small button near the glasses’ arm, are automatically saved to Snapchat Memories via Bluetooth or wi-fi and play full-screen on any device.

The spectacles resemble Google’s now obsolete Google Glass in functionality – both products could be used as a wearable camera – but not in aesthetic. Snapchat’s glasses, with their kitsch 1990s look, have been designed to appeal to the brand’s younger audience and have a more affordable price tag of £100 ($129.99, €116) than Google’s £1,154 ($1,500, €1,338).

Evan Spiegel, CEO of the newly rebranded Snapchat (now Snap Inc), told The Wall Street Journal that the product will tackle the culture of exclusion associated with smartphones, with users holding their devices up ‘like a wall in front of your face’.