Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 165 posts

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#141

Post by thinbeige »

randyrand wrote: post #49
overcast wrote: post #9

I don't understand the target audience. The reason smartphones are so popular, is because they do basically EVERYTHING for the common person. They aren't going to carry around another silly device to take pics, that was called a camera, and we see how popular those are now. For anyone that is serious, they are already carrying separates.

IMO id rather they made a gopro competitor. Maybe ditch the sunglasses part. Not sure. I bring my gopro on all my trips. Its a great way to record memories without using up your phone storage or battery. It's also easier to hold, has better FoV, and much better video quality. It's a no brainer. I'm surprised action cams have not hit mainstream as far as trip-devices go.

No offense, but I can't believe that an additional action cam brings so much extra value. Bulky and has to be charged as well. My iPhone can record memories too. Battery doesn't drain fast when recording and I have 256GB storage and media is anyway uploaded to a cloud provided shortly after. If you get an Android phone with microSD you can get even more local storage.

And why should the video quality be better? The samples I see on Youtube are ok but better?

Yes, you can fix an action cam to your helmet or surf board but this is the only feature a phone lacks.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#142

Post by hsod »

relyks wrote: post #8

They may need to have better marketing, like have an ad that mentions it in the app. I didn't know that Spectacles are selling on Amazon now and I don't believe many people know either. I think most assume that they're still being sold at those exclusive kiosks.

I wonder if one of the problems is that the Spectacles by nature are never in the images they capture. Thus missing out on some powerful organic marketing.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#143

Post by rodgerd »

atomical wrote: post #117
acangiano wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. My Garmin Fenix 3 HR isn't perfect but it consistently connects via Bluetooth faster than any other device I own. It has an "indistinguishable from magic" feel to it.

I have a Forerunner 235. I didn't buy the watch for notifications or anything like that, but it's really cool to get a Slack notification when you are halfway across the house. The GPS also connects to satellites in a fraction of the time my Suunto watch did. It sucks when you're standing in the parking lot waiting to establish signal before your run.

I'd echo that experience - my time with a Fitbit lead me to assume it was normal for notifications to show up long after they arrived on the phone. It's clearly just something that only some manufacturers can get right.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#144

Post by deftnerd »

gscott wrote: post #86
rch wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole Spectacles concept is gimmicky, including the vending machine aspect, so it doesn't really matter how well executed the 'experience' was. They need to allocate their capital to people who have better ideas.

They needed to give those away like AOL did with discs.

Giving away hardware that hackers would love to play with is very different from giving away CD's that can only be alternatively used as drink coasters and for art projects.

Remember CueCat?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat#Failure

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#145

Post by rokhayakebe »

jjoonathan wrote: post #93
vm wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're doomed by the slow UX for uploading: 1) record w/o really knowing how the content is coming out (it's like stepping back into the Kodak age after using an iPhone for 10 years), 2) open Snap app, 3) reconnect the Bluetooth for 1-2 min because the connection is crap from the glasses to my phone, 4) upload all the videos from my glasses which takes another 1-2 min, 5) select specific video snips to share, 6) sel…

There's no UX that bluetooth can't ruin.

Mouse? Keyboard? Earbuds?

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#147

Post by spittet »

thinbeige wrote: post #136
JavaOffScript wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's part of snapchat's brand, they make all their shit unintuitive, obscure, hard to discover and use. It's supposed to make it so that you feel hip and in the know when you finally discover how to make that mustache appear on your face or make text float in the background of your video. But of course that doesn't seem to transfer that well to selling hardware.

> they make all their shit unintuitive Why so aggressive? There is a clear reasoning for this strategy. People and especially press talk more about the product. Btw, I think Snapchat is quite intuitive. Some features might not be easy to find or to know about. But once you know it is very intuitive and fast to use them. I think it is similar to Vim, if you don't know anything about Vim you cannot even quit Vim but on…

I think you are referring to stickiness - which doesn't infer that the product is intuitive.

If you can't use a product right away without help then it is not intuitive by definition. However it doesn't mean you won't like it if taught how to extract value.

For instance it's not intuitive to deep fry a banana and then put salt on it before eating it, but I'm quite certain you will finish the plate once you try it.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#148

Post by tigershark »

rayuela wrote: post #64
bjl wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why in the world would you want to make it socially acceptable to wear a camera on your face?

For AR to ever take off it needs to be ok to wear a camera on your face. I just happen to think the AR space is brimming with potential.

AR doesn't need the capability of taking pictures or videos, it needs the camera functionality for SLAM.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#149

Post by lathiat »

Rjevski wrote: post #124
acchow wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bluetooth working great for Apple AirPods. I think Snapchat is having a software problem.

I think the problem is that in this case Bluetooth is just not fast enough to transfer large amounts of video data. What they should do is use BT to negotiate details of an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network and use that larger pipe to send the actual data.

This random thing I found claims about 1-1.5MB/s possible at least using the multipeerconnectivity libraries. ~ 0.1MB/s for bluetooth-only.

https://github.com/thaliproject/Thali_CordovaPlugin/issues/1...

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#150

Post by tigershark »

thinbeige wrote: post #136
JavaOffScript wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's part of snapchat's brand, they make all their shit unintuitive, obscure, hard to discover and use. It's supposed to make it so that you feel hip and in the know when you finally discover how to make that mustache appear on your face or make text float in the background of your video. But of course that doesn't seem to transfer that well to selling hardware.

> they make all their shit unintuitive Why so aggressive? There is a clear reasoning for this strategy. People and especially press talk more about the product. Btw, I think Snapchat is quite intuitive. Some features might not be easy to find or to know about. But once you know it is very intuitive and fast to use them. I think it is similar to Vim, if you don't know anything about Vim you cannot even quit Vim but on…

You are clearly using a different definition of intuitive from anyone else. VIM is the least intuitive editor that I know. Even you are saying that people don't even know how to quit it, how in the world is that intuitive??? If you need to know all the stuff to use it that is by definition not intuitive. "adjective: intuitive using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive. (chiefly of computer software) easy to use and understand."
Post reply on HN