Snapchat, the image messaging and multimedia mobile application, has unveiled a new hardware, Spectacles. This new wearable gadget features a built-in camera with the ability to record and share videos.
The new gadget features a button near the hinge that allows users to record up to 10 seconds of video, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Spectacles will be marketed in all sizes and will come in black, teal or coral colours. The camera in the Spectacles has a 115-degree angle lens, which is much closer to the eye's natural field of view and wider than most smartphone cameras.
The video recording will be circular like the human vision, unlike the rectangular recording of normal cameras, the report noted. The video taken via Spectacles will sync automatically with the smartphone, thus making it easy to share.
Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snapchat, has referred to Spectacles as a "toy" that can be used at a barbecue or an outdoor concert. Spiegel has been testing the prototype since early 2015 and was quoted by the report as saying, "It was the closest I'd ever come to feeling like I was there again."
Spiegel had recently christened his firm Snap Inc to reflect bigger ambitions that are beyond just the Snapchat application. Snap Inc. is valued between $16 billion and 22 billion.
Spectacles reminds us of the ill-fated Google Glass, which did not come around to be a consumer product and the search giant had to eventually halt its production.
Nevertheless, the new gadget marks Snap Inc.'s entry into the consumer wearable market. Spectacles will be available this autumn for $129.99 with "limited distribution."
