Snapchat Spectacles have, until now, been impossible to find unless you hunt down its traveling vending machine. But the video-recording shades, put to uses both unusual and unsurprising, haven’t faced a test quite like this: They’re going on the open market to see what, if any, interest might have arisen, or remain, in wearable tech.
It’s a tough proposition, as trying to get us to put cameras on our faces has left more than one company licking its wounds or looking at using it industrially instead. While there’s a pretty big gap between Snap’s $130 glasses, that only record and post video, and Google Glass, an attempt to mount a smartphone on our faces, there’s still the question of whether or not it’ll catch on, and if it does catch on, whether it’ll sustain. Considering the rise and sudden fall of Pebble, the struggles of the Oculus Rift and VR in general, and the other waves of wearable tech, it’s a valid question as to whether Spectacles can last now that they’ve got to stand without the hype. Not to mention that, unsurprisingly, Snapchat could really use a hit.
Right now, they’re for sale through the company’s website, although you can only order them in the US.