Meta's first glasses without a camera, the Ray-Ban Meta Audio, are up for pre-order at $349 and ship October 13, the company announced at Connect on Wednesday. They take calls, let you answer messages by voice, play music and podcasts, and still reach Meta AI for live translation and questions. Losing the camera brings the weight down to 43 grams, against 49 or 53 for the other Ray-Ban Meta frames. James Pero tried a pair for Gizmodo and said they felt a little lighter on his face. Meta says they last up to 12 hours on a charge, three more than the new Gen 3, and the case holds another 48.
There are two frames, the rectangular Burbank and the retro Clubmaster, in 23 color and lens combinations, and both take prescription lenses. The Information reported a week ago that Meta was building a pair with no camera and planned to ship it as soon as October. With no camera there's no recording light either. Unless you notice the slightly larger temples and the speaker cut-outs, they pass for plain Ray-Bans.