Back for another round following an abject failure the first time around, Snap Inc. launched the second generation of its video glasses today.

Spectacles 2.0 adds new colors, water resistance and the ability to take photos. The previous version of these glasses, released in 2016, did not go over so well for the company, which sold only 150,000 units and may have been left with hundreds of thousands of unsold devices.

Since then, the company went back to the drawing board and iterated its previous design into something with a few more features. This new 2.0 design also comes after a report suggesting that the company is working on 3-D video capable glasses that may release in 2019.

Snap’s Spectacles 2.0 are available today for purchase on Snap with a price tag of $149. The new glasses are not yet available at Amazon.com or in retail stores.

The glasses are slimmer and come in a variety of less gaudy colors than their predecessors: a dark blue, a deep red and an onyx black. The glasses can also be ordered with custom lens correction for wearers with prescriptions.

The primary function of the glasses is to take video from the perspective of the wearer. To do this, Spectacles 2.0 are equipped with a small, lightweight camera with a field of view of 105 degrees. The glasses can record video at 1216 by 1216 pixels at 60 frames per second with a touch of a button on the left side.

The video recording only lasts for 10 seconds, though extra taps can extend the clip up to 30 seconds. The glasses also come equipped with two microphones to capture more natural sound.

Users can also press and hold the left button to take a still photograph.

According to Snap, owners of the first version of Spectacles will soon receive a firmware update which will also allow them to take photographs with their glasses.

The glasses come with 4 gigabytes of flash storage on board, which is the equivalent of 150 videos or 3,000 photos. To operate, the glasses do not need to be paired with a phone and can connect with Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 A/C Wi-Fi for transferring photos after a long day out. Snap claimed the battery can last up to a week with regular usage.

Additionally, the new Spectacles 2.0 are water-resistant. Although wearers will not be able to take them very deep (only about 1 meter) but they’ll be fine for swimming near the surface for around 30 minutes at a time. This makes the glasses good for splashing around at the local pool or beach, but not so great for trying to get candid video of wildlife.

Compared with Snap’s previous glasses, the hardware and capability of these glasses are a simpler iteration. They provide a hands-free sort of camera operation with the ability to quickly take pictures or video without needing to operate another device such as a camera or a cellphone. This capability integrates well with Snap’s Snapchat app, which the company developed for social media sharing of photos and video.

With expectations that the company will be working on 3-D capable video glasses in the future, this version would be a stepping stone for hardware development to produce consumer-friendly camera glasses for the market.

Snap has an interest in the augmented reality market, seen from the company’s acquisition of AR startup Cimagine in 2016 and the production of AR filters for its social networking app. Spectacles 2.0 are not a type of AR glasses, but the lightweight camera technology and design could presage future ventures into AR. Already, companies such as Vuzix, Lenovo and other companies have begun to follow in the footsteps of Google Glass in producing glasses that not just act as video cameras, but also as display screens.

Looking at previous FCC filings and patents, Snap’s engineers certainly have their eyes on an AR future. It’s just not coming with Spectacles 2.0.

Meanwhile, customers interested in trying out Spectacles 2.0 can currently purchase them from Snap’s website or from the company’s app.

Image: Snap