Snapchat Announces Strange Video-Recording Sunglasses Called ‘Spectacles’

Snapchat is moving into the hardware market with the announcement of their new video-recording sunglasses dubbed Spectacles.

Spectacles were revealed to the Wall Street Journal by Evan Spiegel, cofounder and CEO of the newly renamed Snap, Inc. The device will reportedly record circular video footage from a first-person perspective — and Spiegel hopes Spectacles will help video recording break free from its square, smartphone-based confines. In fact, during the announcement event, Spiegel referred to the device’s footage as being much closer to reliving a memory.

“It’s one thing to see images of an experience you had, but it’s another thing to have an experience of the experience,” Spiegel told the WSJ. “It was the closest I’d ever come to feeling like I was there again.”

Spectacles will reportedly work by recording via a 115-degree-angle lens. Pressing a button near the device’s hinges will record a 10-second video clip — leaving the user’s hands free for other tasks. Each additional press will record another clip, and the device will allegedly send the recordings wirelessly to your iPhone.

But while Spectacles might be an innovative first step for the company, Snap, Inc. reportedly doesn’t view them as a major revenue source. At best, the company’s first foray into hardware is a test of what could lie ahead. Spiegel hinted that there could be far-reaching potential if Snapchat gained control over or produced their own camera hardware, rather than just relying on another company’s devices.

To further concrete that point, Spiegel told the WSJ that he doesn’t view Snap, Inc. as a social media platform anymore. Rather, he sees it as a camera company. And many experts agree that Snapchat could be moving toward a future of virtual reality, and other innovative devices, according to CNBC.

Of course, there’s really no evidence that Spectacles will take off — and the device, which the company even calls a “toy,” might just go the way of previous and innovative predecessors like Google Glass. We’ll just have to wait and see if any of Snap, Inc.’s ambitions will actually pan out.

It’s worth noting that, beyond some basic details, almost nothing else is currently known about Spectacles — since Snap, Inc. currently hasn’t released any information about its specifications. What it did reveal is that Spectacles will come in black, coral or teal, and will retail for $130 in a limited release this fall.