I Wore Smart Glasses to Coachella and It Changed My Whole Experience

This written content was compensated for by Ray-Ban. The newsroom was not included in the generation of this content.

Arriving in Indio, California on a dry and windy 85-degree working day this previous weekend, I was satisfied by what was by far the most significant crowd I’ve been close to in the earlier two several years. Together with about one particular hundred thousand other people, I was attending Coachella weekend one, the initial iteration of the famed music and arts festival due to the fact 2019.

As I walked up the route to the most important grounds with the other attendees, I promptly felt like I was witnessing the filling of a void. It goes without declaring that we’ve all been lacking a required degree of human conversation given that the pandemic began in 2020, in addition to a sure total of enjoyment that is been remaining on the table thanks to a prioritization of protection about enjoyment. The anticipation was palpable as I walked down the yellow route, looking at folks with their close friends in their competition outfits, eyes getting broader and wider with every single advancing stage. 

While a whole lot has changed due to the fact the last time Coachella was held, a single thing remains accurate: what you carry (or really do not) to the grounds can make or split your day. Protection from the solar and dust is an noticeable must, in addition to your cellular phone and any other cameras you program to use to doc the working day (or your matches for social media if you happen to be a single of a lot of influencers in attendance). Thankfully, I was equipped to include my bases with just just one merchandise.

Final yr, Ray-Ban jumped into the sensible glasses sector by collaborating with Fb (now Meta) to make Ray-Ban Tales, a line of glasses that use bluetooth technological innovation to link to your cell phone. They blend audio and visible functions that make your day-to-day more effortless, irrespective of whether you’re going to and from function or attending a person of the optimum profile audio functions in the globe. I was specified a pair to take a look at out for the festival, and was keen to see if they’d have any obvious have an impact on my working experience.

The initially point that stood out to me most was how substantially additional current I was able to be for the duration of the competition. In 2022, lots of of us are used to meticulously documenting our lives to share on social media — everything from excursions to meals to an total live set from our most loved band. Donning the glasses, I was conveniently able to just take pictures and document online video just by clicking a button on the arm of the frames — fairly than stressing about grabbing my telephone out of my pocket at the appropriate minute or missing the create up to a music whilst striving to history. The superior-top quality cameras meant I also did not have to stand beautifully nonetheless in a group of people today, blocking absolutely everyone else’s look at whilst striving to get the ideal shot. 

With the touchpad, voice commands, and developed-in speakers, I was effortlessly alerted to any calls coming as a result of and was capable to choose them up with one touch, controlling the volume by swiping my finger. Furthermore, the speakers had been so high good quality that I didn’t have any challenge listening to my mobile phone in a big crowd of men and women. 

But when it comes down to it, possibly the most important attribute of all is that the glasses never appear nerdy. Up right until now, companies creating smart eyeglasses have pretty much exclusively targeted on technologies and functionality with small to no regard for design and aesthetic style. This has led to a marketplace of advanced eyewear that can do a good deal of amazing stuff, but that you’d pray no 1 sees you sporting. Ray-Ban kept it simple, incorporating futuristic attributes to classic silhouettes like the Wayfarer and spherical frame sun shades, and established a pair of good eyeglasses that you won’t be humiliated to put on. The hottest design has even improved on the unique launch, better integrating the touchpad and earning the body a minimal less cumbersome, resulting in a smooth product you will really feel snug carrying even when you’re not applying the created-in capabilities. 

As I walked back again to the rideshare pickup that evening — even now donning my eyeglasses in the dark to secure my eyes from the notorious desert dust storms — I could not enable but sense grateful that we’re ready to occur collectively like this once again. I hadn’t fully realized until eventually now how a great deal I desired to be back in this form of ecosystem, connecting with a sea of strangers more than a shared experience.