The newest/coolest/funkiest thing in tech wearables right now are the Snapchat Spectacles, sunglasses with a built-in video camera that lets you shoot video and post to Snapchat. And the person behind the glasses is reportedly a former Motorola executive.
Steve Horowitz, a former VP of engineering at Motorola, is leading Snapchat's hardware efforts, according to Recode, which includes the Spectacles and any other projects Snapchat has down the road. Snapchat hired Horowitz to be its VP of engineering in 2015.
Horowitz reports directly to CEO Evan Spiegel and has been quietly building out Snapchat's hardware team, according to Recode.
While at Motorola, Horowitz led a number of the company's projects, including the Moto 360 smartwatch. He's joined at Snapchat by at least one other former Motorola executive, as Business Insider reportsthat Seshadri Tangutur, a former corporate VP of software for Motorola, is also working on the project. Tangutur began working for Motorola in 2010 and was hired by Snatchat in 2015.
Snapchat is the latest company to scoop up former Motorola talent for its hardware projects. Magic Leap, a secretive mixed-reality startup in Florida, has hired nearly 100 ex-Motorolans and moved into Motorola's former Florida office building. In Chicago, we're beginning to see a wave of new hardware startups pop up from former Motorola engineers who are moving on from the beleaguered cell phone maker.
Whether you think the Snapchat Spectacles are a game changer or another Google Glass-like flop, the technology inside is pretty impressive. The glasses use circular video to shoot video with a 115 degree field of view, which is designed to look how the human eye sees. This also allows you to see the video whether you're phone is vertical or horizontal.
You can take a video just by tapping the frame of the glasses, and the Spectacles connect directly to Snapchat via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi so you can edit and post to Snapchat later.
The glasses will retail for $129 and expect to ship this fall.
Image via Screengrab
