Meta’s Oakley Vanguard are smart glasses for athletes

Meta officially unveiled its latest smart glasses, the Oakley Meta Vanguard. These are a pair of AI-powered specs engineered from the ground up for athletes. These new shades are built to be a serious training partner, moving beyond simple video recording to become a true performance tool. The glasses will launch on October 21 for $499 (roughly Rs 44,000) and are slated for an Indian release later this year.

Now, record all your fitness activities

The Vanguard’s killer feature is its deep integration with popular fitness platforms. The glasses can connect to a compatible Garmin watch, allowing you to ask Meta AI for real-time stats like your heart rate or pace without ever looking down. An LED in your peripheral vision can even light up to let you know if you are hitting your targets.

Better yet, a new autocapture function automatically records video clips when you hit key milestones, like a personal best distance or a sudden spike in elevation. Strava users can also graphically overlay their performance metrics directly onto the videos and photos they capture – and share those with their community.

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The glasses also boast an IP67 dust and water resistance rating, the highest of any Meta smart glasses to date. The open-ear speakers are six decibels louder than previous models, and a five-microphone array works to cut down on wind noise during calls or voice commands. The camera has been moved to a central position just above the nose, housing a 12-megapixel sensor with a 122-degree wide-angle lens that can capture video in up to 3K resolution. New capture modes like Slow Motion and Hyperlapse are also included.

Meta says the battery will last for up to nine hours of mixed use, or six hours of continuous music playback. The included charging case packs an additional 36 hours of juice and can charge the glasses to 50 percent in just 20 minutes. Pre-orders are open now in several regions ahead of the October launch.