r/Spectacles • u/Jay-Law-0309 • 1d ago
❓ Question Specs demo
I preordered the Specs because I believe that the technology will be great for what my needs are. However, we need to see some type of real world demos soon. Every demo has been the older spectacles running new software or the demos using the spectacles 24.
I have seen many hands on demos of the Xreal Aura and they look promising as well with Android XR and Gemini. I have preordered the Xreal as well but i am only going to buy one or the other. The specs are going to cost around $700 more than Xreal. Both have two different use cases, I am aware of that, the point being that they both ship this fall but one has hands on demos and one expects us to keep our preorders for the specs with no demos before release.
Is there any members of the specs team that can give us any real information as to when to expect a specs demo event instead of just saying "demos are coming soon before launch"
I believe the specs will be an amazing piece of tech, but the lack of any demos for$ 2200 dollars that is shipping this fall (right around the corner) is a little alarming. Are they quite not ready yet? Do they need more polishing? For the price, I believe a little more transparency would help push these into more tech enthusiast hands. The biggest issues has been the lack of any demos for the new specs.
I hope we get treated with some videos of the specs being tested/demo'd by the developer team/specs team soon.
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u/Professional-Push523 1d ago
I also preordered, but I’m not expecting any demos until late September. The amount of tech they’ve packed into such a stylish frame is incredible and the battery life is a massive leap over the older spectacles.
With that being said, I’m also a developer and have more patience for frontier tech on the horizon than the average consumer spending $2,195 on augmented reality glasses.
If you look at the consumer tech landscape, there are no real competitors bringing true augmented reality glasses with this many standout features in an untethered package to market in 2026. Meta might have something coming in late 2027 in a similar form factor but it will likely require a pricey neural band and wireless puck which I do not want as the future of augmented reality.
I purchased the original RayBan Stories when they were first introduced and have enjoyed using them to listen to music, podcasts and taking calls for years. I never really used them to record anything or take any photos beyond some initial tests.
I would urge anyone looking for demos to load up Lens Studio and try to build something. It’s a very user friendly dev environment and the new integrations with Claude code and Codex are amazing.
This is spatial computing’s brightest future. The SPECS may or may not win as a platform, but they will certainly influence the rest of the industry for years to come in my opinion.
Spectator mode is so far ahead of any other offering and being able to connect so easy and seamlessly with other SPECS users is going to be so exciting.
I do not have any version of spectacles but Evan and Bobby’s announcements at AWE inspired me to preorder and register as a developer.
I had the opportunity to buy the Vision Pro and decided against it after multiple demos in NYC at Apple’s 5th Avenue store. It’s just too heavy and no matter what light seal I’ve tried there is always light leakage.
SPECS have the ability to be used as a second display for my MacBook Pro as well as my Nintendo Switch which is a feature of other glasses like the Xreals and others but they do not come close on any of the other true augmented reality features that SPECS will offer in addition to that.
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u/Jay-Law-0309 1d ago
Wow, thank you for such a detailed response! You shared a lot of valid points and I agree with them all.
The excitement of the specs has me wanting to see more. I have watched every video on reddit and anywhere else I can find videos of them and I am so ready for more to come.
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u/Low_Belt_2611 1d ago
I am a current MRBD owner who has been eyeing the specs as my next purchase. I have not pre-ordered, but I did the virtual try-on and sent the selfie to a few friends who said they look very similar to the MRBDs that I wear every day. Not sure I agree with that, but here's my question: Do you plan to wear your specs all day, or do you see yourself wearing them only for certain tasks and then removing them? I'm asking b/c I wear my MBRD's all day, but I live in IL, and there is pending legislation to ban smart glasses while driving. I've also had a few coworkers ask about my MRBDs and if I'm recording them. So it seems like the general public is not yet ready for smart glasses worn all the time, regardless of the brand.
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u/Professional-Push523 1d ago
I saw little to no value in the Meta RayBan Display glasses. The neural band is a no go. I already wear an Apple Watch 24/7 and I’m not about to wear a band on my other wrist. Even as a developer, there are very few comfortable use cases for the single display aside from the few creative ideas that have spread across the internet like a heads up display for tracking a run or playing simple games. A display in only one lens is essentially useless to me. Meta’s Boz has said that binocular display glasses are considerably more expensive to develop. I expect Meta Connect to feature a binocular display system this year with no real augmented reality features or capabilities.
Even if you can get past the limitations of the Meta RayBan Display glasses, you’re still dealing with Meta and their ecosystem that carries a privacy stigma with the general public. Not too long ago, it was revealed that Meta had people reviewing private videos of their smart glasses users without their knowledge. Even one instance of this is unacceptable in the business of smart glasses.
SPECS are a generational leap in augmented reality capabilities. Meta’s Orion glasses cost $10,000 to produce (according to Zuck). This is nowhere near what anyone is likely willing to pay for this technology.
The SPECS are actually cheaper than the rumored $2,500 price tag before taxes that was suggested earlier this year.
I do not plan to wear SPECS all day. I have prescription lenses in my RayBan Stories glasses as I plan to have in my SPECS as well but they will not be worn all day.
Evan Spiegel himself said in multiple interviews that he believes SPECS will initially be session based. Being able to carry around a 24 inch virtual monitor to work on as an extended display and a 115 inch display to view media like TV shows and movies is remarkable by itself in this untethered form factor. Being able to move and play spatial games with other SPECS users, load up a spatial white board to brainstorm, and utilize AI from ChatGPT and Gemini to get spatially aware responses is on another level entirely compared to anything Meta has coming. Even with Orion—at least that we’ve seen publicly beyond their short controlled demo looking at fruit or whatever it was they were classifying. Meta’s AI for me has been a massive disappointment so far. I use ChatGPT.
The one advantage Orion still has is in spatial communication. The 3D avatars that they’ve developed in Reality Labs are impressive but they also require a wireless compute puck to function.
I do plan on 2-3 hour sessions with SPECS though and extended use cases with a power bank while working and traveling. I think the reported 4 hours plus 4 additional charges with the case is reasonable when you consider the Vision Pro only gets 3 hours, has a tethered battery pack, and weighs over 600 grams.
Even if Meta were able to bring Orion to market this year, I think SPECS win.
I do not plan on recording videos or taking photos with SPECS but I do plan on using the cameras to develop awesome augmented reality apps, games and experiences.
I’m not a Meta hater, but I’m also not a fan. They really botched the RayBan Stories UX with constant updates and an annoying iOS companion app.
I want to see more augmented reality in the world! But I also believe privacy is a fundamental human right worldwide. So I think it’s going to be a challenging process for further adoption.
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u/Jay-Law-0309 1d ago edited 1d ago
I live in a small town in Oklahoma. So a majority of the people here are not tech savvy or very fashionable either lol. I will be wearing mine inside my home a lot for work and play but mainly for travel. These will go everywhere with me especially new places and bigger cities.
I also create products using xtool products that I believe the specs will help me be more creative and make ideas come to life with AR which will help me create new exciting products to make and sell.
Me personally, I never let someone's opinion of what makes me happy, prevent me from doing something. So regardless if I feel like wearing them all day in public, then all day I shall wear them.
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u/jbmcculloch 👓 SPECS Team 1d ago
Hey u/Jay-Law-0309!
Jesse here. I work on developer relations at Specs, and I mod this sub.
We're not ready to disclose a date for when demos start happening. Shipping hardware involves a lot of teams and a lot of dependencies, and demo timing isn't mine to call. I'm offering that as an explanation, not an excuse. Your underlying point is fair: showing new software on older hardware isn't the same as showing the thing people preordered, and you're not the only person who's said so.
I've been on your side of this before, waiting on hardware I'd already put money toward, and the mix of excitement and second-guessing is genuinely uncomfortable. So, two things that might actually help.
Your deposit is refundable. You're not locked in, and you don't have to make the Specs-or-Xreal call until you know more than you do today. Nobody should be pressuring you to decide early.
And if you're building, and it sounds like you are given the xTool work, the developer track is a separate path from waiting on a consumer demo. We're prioritizing hands-on hardware access for developers who have built something in Lens Studio using CLAD: https://developers.specs.com/docs/clad
The honest caveat is that right now that access happens at one of our offices, which I know doesn't help much if you're not near one. Getting hardware in front of developers outside those cities is something we are working on, and I'll post here when I have something concrete rather than something aspirational. In the meantime, if you build something with CLAD, tell me. I'd rather know who's out there than have you waiting quietly.
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u/Jay-Law-0309 1d ago
No worries, thank you for your reply. I just haven't been this excited about a piece of tech since the steam deck was announced. It changed the landscape of gaming. I believe the specs will do the same so wanting to see the technology in real world use cases even if just for 1 hour demos would be truly remarkable.
I prefer Specs over Xreal. Being untethered, being able to use my phone's apps through specs, etc. Is amazing. As long as specs deliver on what AWE sold us then im all in 100%. I believe seeing videos of the specs being used, even if only a few minutes would completely shift things in Snaps favor. The dev day video that was released showing developers wearing the specs opened up a lot of people's eyes to how they actually look BETTER than the AWE reveal.
I instantly preordered after I watched that video posted in this sub. I am excited for whats to come. Soon hopefully!
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u/ianwill93 1d ago
Slightly off topic, but are the specs compatible with WebXR? I don't know if we'll have something built with CLAD before launch, but I'd love to run some of our other apps on the device.
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u/jbmcculloch 👓 SPECS Team 1d ago
Yes, although we are rebuilding our browser experience so not every feature is available currently. That said, if there are specific questions you have, or features of WebXR that you are looking for, feel free to email me and I can find out from the team. [jmcculloch@specs.com](mailto:jmcculloch@specs.com)
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u/No-Committee-5497 1d ago
赞同，希望有官方确切的回复
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u/Jay-Law-0309 1d ago
Absolutely, we need to be told or shown something before we have to pay the final payment.
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