Snap's Specs: Still Expensive, but Far More Comfortable Than Before

When I tried a prototype of Snap's Specs at CES in Las Vegas earlier this year, the experience left something to be desired. The company's AR glasses — which it calls a "new kind of computer" — were heavy (around 8 ounces) and fit rather uncomfortably on my face. The device was also hot and made my face feel tingly — a common side effect of smart glasses in which massive computing happens under the hood.

Fast forward to late October, when I met back up with the Snap team at a Four Seasons in downtown San Francisco. By then, the company had debuted Specs publicly at an event with CEO Evan Spiegel, and pre-orders of the long-gestating headset were already underway.

What I can say is this: Specs has improved the form factor significantly since my first brush with the device. The glasses now weigh nearly half what the previous version did, slimming down to 132 grams, or approximately 4.6 ounces. They were quite comfortable, and during the hour or so I demoed the device, it did not heat up as the previous version had.

Specs now comes in two sizes — 47mm and 52mm. The purpose is purely to accommodate different head sizes, ensuring the glasses fit snugly on whoever happens to be wearing them. They also now come equipped with spring hinges, which make the device more flexible and comfortable.

However, if the body of the device has improved greatly, its soul is still a work in progress. The glasses can be fun — but they also still seem to lack a dedicated purpose, and one struggles to imagine how, specifically, this expensive headgear ($2,200 a pop) would prove useful on a daily basis. When I asked Snap staff what the device was really for — fun and games or productivity — the answer was vague. The device attempts to be a bunch of things at once and, in the process, ends up feeling a little rudderless.

I have racked my brain to come up with some daily use cases for Specs. Some of the things I came up with were:

• Watching TV or movies while you're on a train or some other form of public transportation. There are places where you just have to hang out for a while and, not infrequently, one way to pass the time is streaming. Specs provides a much more immersive form of mobile entertainment than simply watching a video on your cell phone. The device's integrations with HBO Max and YouTube make it an appealing entertainment option for users who are in transit.

• Reading. Because of the immersive nature of Snap's headset, I feel like it could be a good option for reading while traveling. When you're reading with Specs, it feels like you're locked into whatever text you happen to be looking at. It weirdly helped me focus. An integration for newspapers or Kindle could make the glasses a good way to read while you're mobile (I'm envisioning the ideal setting being on a plane, train, or the back of a car).

• Taking easily shareable weird videos. Like many of Meta's smart glasses, Specs allows users to take photographs and videos, which is an odd but fun component of the user experience. The ability to generate GoPro-like videos and easily text them to your friends is something I could see the casual user doing on a somewhat regular basis.

By contrast, here are some of the areas I'm still not totally sold on as Specs use cases:

• Specs as a daily workspace and productivity tool. Snap is marketing Specs as a way to work, claiming the headset can "transform almost any location into an immersive, flexible workspace." However, it's hard to imagine the average worker wanting to incorporate Specs into their workflow. Strapping the glasses to your head is less convenient than simply sitting at your computer typing. What can Specs offer that a phone and laptop can't? The social stigma of wearing odd, large glasses and gesturing to operate them also seems a deterrent.

• A widely used gaming device. Given the prohibitive cost (nearly $2,200), it's hard to imagine a large audience for Specs as a gaming device. Most Xboxes cost less than half as much. Are the games on Specs fun? Sure, somewhat. But will teenagers clamor for them at Christmas? Less certain.

Specs impresses in how the Snap team integrated a variety of user experiences into one unified device. There are notable achievements—specifically the spatial syncing tech that lets two users see the same thing simultaneously—that, with further development, could support interesting use cases.

The bottom line: Snap's device can grow and transform as the company iterates. It's an interesting product that, like many peers, lacks a clear purpose but could become many things over time.

What the device currently offers, however, may not be compelling enough to justify the price Snap is asking.