Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 Review: The Best AI Smart Glasses You Can Buy in India?

For years, smart glasses have promised a future where technology fades into the background, leaving behind a seamless, always-on experience that can solve your queries, provide context, and keep you connected without constantly reaching for your smartphone. Plenty of companies have tried to make that vision a reality, but few have come as close as Meta and Ray-Ban.

The reason is simple: the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 look like a simple pair of sunglasses at first glance. The familiar appearance draws people in. It’s only when you start wearing them every day that you realize the practical use cases. During my time with the glasses, I found myself taking calls without pulling out my phone, capturing photos and videos hands-free, and using Meta AI to answer questions while on the move.

That doesn’t mean the experience is perfect. In India, the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 remains a premium product, and some of its AI capabilities are still evolving. It’s not built for everyone, yet it has managed to carve a market so big that even Apple is considering jumping into it (by the end of 2027).

After spending several weeks with the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2, here’s what I think about its design, comfort, cameras, audio quality, AI features, battery life, and whether it’s worth paying nearly ₹45,000 for a glimpse of the future.

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) Review: Design, Build, & Comfort

The Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer Gen 2 has a classic appearance, one that suits more faces than you think it would. The polycarbonate frame doesn’t feel too heavy and sits comfortably on the nose bridge.

The one I’m wearing in the product shots is a Medium, and let me tell you, they look absolutely amazing, not just one me, but two other friends as well. The one I received was the Shiny Black finish with Transition lenses, which darken in sunlight. 

On the comfort front, the glasses don’t feel meaningfully different from a regular pair of sunglasses. There’s a slight bulk towards the temples, but it’s not something you constantly notice through the day. If you’re used to wearing those frames with thin temples, it might take a day or two before the fit feels natural.

The Shiny Black variant that I received, while sharp-looking, attracts fingerprints, smudges, and micro-scratches very easily. On the underside of the nose bridge sit two small exposed metal charging pins, which help charge the device. 

Up close, the temple arms are noticeably thicker than a regular Wayfarer, and that’s obviously to accommodate all the electronics inside. It’s the right temple arm that houses a capacitive touchpad, flush with the frame. However, it also means that it will register a lot of accidental inputs when you’re either trying to adjust the frames or your hair. 

Along with the touchpad on the right arm, there’s a power switch on the left inner arm (near the hinge), and a capture button at the top of the right arm (again, near the hinge), to interact with the device. 

All three are easy to locate by feel within a day or two of use, which matters when you’re trying to operate the glasses without taking them off or fumbling around. The right frame also has an inner notification LED, which changes color related to power, capture function, voice controls, calls, etc.

When the recording is active, there’s a small LED that glows on the outer frame, which, more than being a design-centric choice, is something that informs the people around you that they’re being recorded. 

The glasses carry an IPX4 rating, which isn’t very confidence-inspiring in my opinion. Even though the glasses should be able to handle light sweat and splashes of water, they can’t survive in heavy rain. 

I’d say that the glasses should have carried a better ingress protection rating, especially since it gets quite hot in the summer months. No dust protection rating is yet another disappointment. This becomes a real consideration in India, where a sudden downpour or a sweaty commute is more the rule than the exception for several months of the year. 

In the box: the glasses, a slim portable charging case, and a cleaning cloth. The box itself is quite a fashion accessory. A slim clamshell charging case that fits easily in a bag, features a leather finish on the exterior, and has a USB-C charging port and a reset/pair button.

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) Review: Video & Audio Quality

If there’s an aspect where the Gen 2 actually earn their upgrade tag, it’s this one. The sensor hasn’t moved from the first generation: the glasses still use a 12 MP ultra-wide camera shooting stills at 3024×4032 pixels. 

What’s new, however, is that the Gen 2 can record at 3K Ultra HD at 30fps, a genuine leap from the 1080p ceiling of the first-generation glasses. In good daylight, I found the photos quite nice: quick, candid, point-of-view shots that actually look great on Instagram or WhatsApp. But they still won’t replace the ones captured from your phone’s camera. 

In my experience, colors often aren’t quite as vibrant as the actual scene. I noticed this most with bright outdoor scenes, where the glasses prioritized dynamic range over saturation. I’ve taken photos thinking I’d captured a perfect frame, only to find the subject was slightly off to one side, something that you get used to with time. 

The company could have included a video monitor in the Meta AI app, with additional focus and exposure controls, but that will kill the idea of capturing instant, candid moments without reaching out for your phone, and I understand that. 

When sitting still, whether in a car or a room, the videos turn out to be absolutely stable. The Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) default to 1080p resolution (video cap at five minutes instead of three), which works great for social media stories or videos, but there’s still an option to upgrade to 3K in the settings. 

While the 1080p is far better at handling motion (walking, trekking, riding a bike), the 3K footage might look noticeably shaky if you’re moving around. There’s another reason why most people might keep the video resolution at 1080p: battery life. In my experience, I noticed the battery drop around 15 to 20% for every five minute video. Switching the resolution to 3K consumes twice the battery. 

The device features 32GB of onboard storage, which, the company claims, can fit up to 500+ photos or 100+ 30 second videos. You can use the Meta AI app to transfer the photos and videos to your phone’s storage. 

On the audio front, the Gen 2 features two open-ear speakers and a five-microphone array. For casual listening, I found the sound clear and well-separated, especially in the mids and highs, though bass is thin, which is perfectly normal for flat speakers. If you keep the volume really low, it feels as if the audio is being played around you rather than the glass.

Calls and podcasts are where this audio setup genuinely shines. Voices come through with real clarity. Giving credit where due, the five-mic array does an excellent job isolating your voice from ambient noise during calls. Even when recording POV videos, the audio pickup is excellent. 

Sound leakage is there. Anything you’re listening above 50 to 60% of volume is audible to someone standing or sitting near you, especially if they’re right next to you. In a noisy Indian street market, the mall-roads on hill stations, or a packed metro coach, this won’t matter. In an office, a library, or a quiet flight, it will.

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) Review: Meta AI Features

The brain behind these glasses is Meta AI. You can summon it with a simple “Hey Meta” wake word. I used it constantly during testing, mostly for quick tasks: asking what something was (mostly household items), clicking a picture without reaching out for my phone or the button on the right temple, or getting it to play a song, and it did well, except for a few times, when the command returned nothing.

The object-recognition system in place is excellent. It easily identified an Apple MacBook on a desk, a phone charger, a non-leather cricket ball, the type and variety of flowers, and fishes in an aquarium, all through its native AI search and identification system. That way, you can easily ask questions about your environment.

You can also point the glasses to a math problem on a piece of paper and get instructions in your ear to solve them. You could also carry the device with you while traveling, ask Meta AI to generate a picture along with a relevant caption, and upload it on social media platforms. Instagram even has a special Story tag for highlighting content captured via Meta Glasses. 

The response time is generally quick, and I rarely had to repeat myself. For a majority of my testing, I interacted with the device in English. However, AI now offers full Hindi support. While I personally know a couple of Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses customers (from the first-generation itself), none of them actually use the glasses with the language set to Hindi. 

Anyway, interacting with the device in Hindi worked reasonably well for straightforward commands, particularly for straightforward queries. This Hindi capability reportedly uses technology built with Sarvam, one of India’s leading foundational AI model companies. 

Another India-specific feature is the option to replace Meta AI’s robotic voice with Deepika Padukone’s voice (popular Indian actress), available in Indian English. While it might appeal to certain buyers, the novelty wore off quite quickly for me. 

But I see where the feature is coming from. We already have a popular Indian actor’s voice giving confirmation about payments in one of India’s largest digital payments networks. 

Another feature worth mentioning is Conversation Focus. It’s designed to boost the voice of the person standing directly in front of you when you’re in a noisy environment. It works fine, but it won’t drown out blaring background noises. It does help a bit in a crowded street, a busy cafe, or even a noisy family gathering.

I even connected my WhatsApp with the Meta AI app, after which, the glasses started reading out new messages and accepted voice replies. Apart from the hands-free audio calling, I was also able to use the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses’ camera as a video source on a video call. 

One feature that I couldn’t test was UPI payments through Meta AI glasses. Despite how it’s been covered in some places, I couldn’t access the feature via WhatsApp. The premise, however, is to scan a QR code and say “Hey Meta, scan and pay,” completing a UPI Lite transaction under ₹1,000 via your WhatsApp-linked bank account. 

I dug through a couple of Reddit pages to figure out what’s going on, and it looks like only a handful of Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) users have access to the feature. There’s a chance that the feature is available to a wider audience, in which case, we’ll update this particular section of the review with up-to-date information. 

Overall, I found Meta AI useful, but with caveats. For quick, hands-free tasks, it’s genuinely handy. But for anything requiring nuance, especially in Hindi, I’d like to see the model get sharper before I rely on it daily.

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) Review: Battery Life & Charging

Meta claims up to 8 hours of battery life on the Gen 2, double the claimed battery life from the original product. It’s more of an umbrella range that comprises an average usage scenario. The actual battery life will depend on factors such as volume levels, Meta AI and other feature usage, and the duration for which you capture videos. 

In my experience, the device lasted for around four to five hours of active mixed use, music, photos, a few videos, and the occasional Meta AI query. I’d say that the improved battery life genuinely changes how usable the glasses feel day to day, compared to the Gen 1’s frustratingly short runtime.

The best way to make the battery last longer is to set the video resolution at 1080p and keep the volume levels below 50%, something that isn’t always possible. Or, you can simply turn off the glasses when you don’t require the smart connectivity features.

If you use them wisely, you can easily go through an entire working day without looking for the charging case. Meta has also added support for fast charging, so the glasses go from empty to 50% in around 20 minutes. 

The charging case is where the Gen 2 truly shines. It provides around 30 hours of additional backup, again, with mixed active usage (the claimed time is up to 48 hours). For me, the case provided four recharges before I plugged them in with some battery left.

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) Review: Comparison With Gen 1

Though the two generations look and feel identical, the Gen 2 is actually a few grams heavier, though you won’t notice this on your face. The real differences come down to two things: camera and battery. Gen 1 is capped at 1080p video, while Gen 2 can shoot at 3K Ultra HD at 30fps. Claimed battery life doubles from 4 hours on Gen 1 to 8 hours on Gen 2, with the charging case also offering more backup power. 

If you already own a Gen 1 and use it occasionally, mostly for quick photos or short clips, you should skip upgrading to the Gen 2. However, if you regularly record video, make calls, or rely on AI features, and frequently find yourself running out of battery, the Gen 2 addresses these pain points directly and is worth the upgrade.

Review Verdict: Should You Buy The Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2?

Smartprix ⭐ Rating: 8.7/10

The Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 gets the fundamentals right. It looks like a normal pair of Ray-Bans but improves the most annoying problems with the Gen 1. The camera and audio are genuinely useful for hands-free content and battery life is good enough for a full day. The Meta AI features work fine most of the time as well.

However, like every other product, this one has a couple of flaws too. The IPX4 rating and no dust protection feel inadequate for Indian weather, the Shiny Black finish attracts smudges and scratches fast. There’s no prescription lens option through the official Indian store, which is a huge letdown for a majority of daily eyewear users. 

In my frank opinion, the glasses are best suited for tech enthusiasts, content creators, or buyers who can pay for a premium, fashionable, hands-free device. At ₹45,700 for this Transitions variant, the asking price is steep, especially with no returns allowed. If you’re keen on these glasses, my advice would be to wait for a sale, a festive discount, or a bank offer that brings the price meaningfully below MRP, rather than paying full price.

First reviewed in June 2026.

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