I tried the $2,200 Snap Specs and AR glasses are exciting again

I tried the recently announced Snap Specs while at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit this week, and these new AR glasses have once again made me optimistic about the future of AR and spatial computing. Though, maybe I should say "cautiously optimistic."

The Snap Specs are already up for pre-order for $2,200, so yes, this is still some very expensive technology. Meanwhile, their battery life can go up to 4 hours, and you can get an optional case for $200 more that can add 16 hours more, plus cellular connectivity. If you want to enable your Snap Specs to go online via cellular, though, you’ll have to add a small carrier plan. In terms of release date, the Snap Specs are expected to start shipping later this fall.
Okay, but are these new cutting-edge AR glasses any good, and what can they do?

Using the Snap Specs

First up, let's take a look at the design, because obviously these look way chunkier than your standard glasses. The temples are thick and long, way more so than those of other XR glasses, let alone normal glasses, but from the front, the lenses themselves are actually not that bad.

Yet, it'll take a bold individual to go outside in public wearing these glasses. The Snap Specs themselves don't feel too heavy, but the thick temples do push against your ears quite a bit.
But let me tell you, these are the most advanced augmented reality glasses I've tried so far. These glasses are not simply for taking pictures or sending messages. No, no. Snap is going all-in on spatial computing. To allow for that, the Specs have large waveguide displays with a 51-degree field of view. This isn't huge, but it makes for a sizable AR color display. Of course, don't expect OLED colors or contrast here, but this is probably the biggest and most colorful transparent display I've ever seen, and it's not bad at all.

The Snap Specs run a proprietary OS and come with a browser, maps navigation, on-screen live translation, and a whole host of applications, called lenses, that can do all kinds of things.
During my hands-on session, I tried several demo apps made to show different use cases with this technology. One was about doing different soccer exercises to improve specific skills like turning or dribbling, while another was a special Harry Potter AR experience designed to go along with HBO's upcoming show.To use the Snap Specs, you manipulate on-screen objects using hand tracking. You can either touch objects directly or, more often, point at them and do a pinching gesture. Hand tracking is fairly accurate, but it's a bit tricky to hit small interface elements. Then again, maybe it's a matter of getting used to.

Dual Snapdragon processors

To do all that without being tethered to an external battery like the Apple Vision Pro, or a computing puck like Xreal’s Aura, Snap has used dual, state-of-the-art Qualcomm Snapdragon AR processors that distribute workloads for maximum responsiveness and efficiency. One of the Snapdragon processors is responsible for computer vision and spatial awareness (think hand tracking, 6DoF spatial computation, and object recognition), and the other is used for running operating system and application processes.
This split-processing architecture means you don’t get just one processor that has to handle everything and thus get hot and inefficient. By employing two Snapdragon AR processors, each specialized for specific tasks, the Snap Specs don’t get unpleasantly warm on our face and can last for 4 hours. This may not seem like much, but it’s an absolute record right now for such advanced AR glasses with waveguide displays.

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