Pop into Snap’s offices and you might see some curious things. Butterflies fluttering around the lobby. Zombies in the canteen. The entire solar system on the terrace.
Snap, which began life as photo-messaging app Snapchat, has been a pioneer in “augmented reality”. But instead of peering through a smartphone app to view these effects, I saw them through what almost felt like normal glasses.
Snap’s newest “Spectacles” are not widely available, but the demo I had showed promise. When I held out my hand, a butterfly appeared to land on it. I clicked a button on the frames and the glasses told me what I was looking at. Images were bright and clear — although a big limitation is the batteries last just 30 minutes.