Snapchat To Release Second-Gen Snapchat Spectacles, FCC Listing Reveals
The first generation Snapchat Spectacles, which was basically a pair of smart glasses that would work with the company’s multimedia messaging app, didn’t fare so well on the market. However, the company is apparently not yet ready to give up on the concept despite its past failure. As reported by Variety, Snapchat just recently submitted an FCC listing for a second-generation model of the Spectacles, which the company likely hopes would succeed where the first one had failed.
Back in 2016, Snapchat launched a massive marketing campaign to promote the first generation Spectacle. The campaign was successful, as it created a huge hype for the release of the product. Unfortunately, shortly after its release, sales of the wearable video camera plummeted and users lost interest.
As reported by the Verge, the recently uncovered listing was submitted by Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc. The company labeled the product as being a wearable video camera, similar to the original Spectacles, with the biggest difference being that it now being labeled as mode “002.” The smart wearable is also listed as being fully compatible with iOS and Android. A variant of the product is listed with a “made for iPhone” sticker, which further specifies that it is compatible with all models starting from the iPhone 5 all the way up to the iPhone X. An Android version is also apparently also available.
New Snap Spectacles confirmed by FCC https://t.co/6P3S2cpZNz pic.twitter.com/J6XeroU7HQ
— The Verge (@verge) April 11, 2018
The upcoming new wearable was initially expected to be coming with full cellular connectivity, which would essentially allow users to use the device without pairing it with a smartphone. However, the listing has now confirmed that this will apparently not be the case. Users would still need a smartphone to utilize the device’s features.
The listing does confirm that the new Spectacles will be able to connect to smartphones faster than its predecessor thanks to built-in support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. This will translate to a significantly faster rate of transfer for videos and photos captured on the device. As for its other features, the second-generation Snapchat Spectacle is revealed to utilize a 95mAh battery to power its internals. Other than that, nothing else is yet known regarding its actual hardware capabilities. While the product has been filed with the FCC, it is not yet a guarantee that it will actually see a public release. However, given the work that has been put into developing it, Snapchat may very well be planning to release it to the market very soon.
