Meta Ray-Ban Display gets Hologram avatars, new navigation features and more

The Meta Ray-Ban Display is getting a major feature update. Among other things, Meta is adding a photorealistic avatar for video calls, new navigation options, a dedicated Explore app as well as additional notification, calendar and recording features. At the same time, the display glasses are expanding beyond the US market for the first time. Meta is now bringing the Ray-Ban Display to Germany, the UK, Canada, France and Italy. Here's an overview of the most important new features.

Hologram feature creates photorealistic avatars for video calls

Until now, the glasses could show the wearer's surroundings during video calls, but there is no camera facing the user's face. As a result, people on the other end of a video call could only see what the wearer was looking at. With the new Hologram feature, the display glasses will now create a photorealistic digital avatar of the wearer and show it to the other person during video calls. According to Meta, this will only require a short self-capture in the Meta AI app.

According to Meta, the animation is driven entirely by the user's voice. The system analyzes what is being said and how it is being said, using this information to derive lip movements, facial expressions and emotional reactions, among other things. Hologram is initially set to launch as an Early Access feature for WhatsApp this fall. For now, however, the feature will be limited to users in the US.

Navigation will use buildings instead of just street names

Meta is also expanding the glasses' navigation capabilities. New features include cycling routes and live information for buses and trains. Navigation can be started by voice, while turn-by-turn directions and departure times appear directly in the glasses' display. At launch, however, the new features will only be available in the US and Canada.

Particularly interesting is Meta's plan to make pedestrian navigation more closely reflect the user's actual surroundings. Instead of displaying only street names, the glasses will also incorporate visible landmarks. For example, “turn left onto Third Street” could become “turn left at the yellow house.” Meta has not yet revealed when or in which countries this feature will be available.

New apps, notifications and Dolby Atmos recordings

With Explore, the Ray-Ban Display is also getting a central hub for new apps and features. It is intended to bring together content developed specifically for the glasses across areas such as learning, entertainment, gaming and discovery.

Separately, Meta is also expanding the glasses' system features. Messages and other smartphone notifications will be able to appear directly in the display. According to Meta, users will be able to choose which notifications are shown. However, the company has not yet announced a specific launch date for the feature. On top of that, there is a new camera feature: Videos will be able to be recorded with Dolby Atmos. This is intended to create more spatial audio and make it easier to tell which direction sounds came from when watching the footage later.

Calendar integration is also being expanded. In the future, users will be able to view meeting participants, accept or decline invitations and join meetings directly through the glasses. Meta appears to be trying to move more and more functionality directly onto the glasses. Navigation, notifications, apps and calendar features are intended to make it possible to leave the smartphone in your pocket more often, at least for smaller tasks.