Meta unveiled its smart glasses with built-in displays last year, hinting at a capability for composing texts by sketching letters in the air. The firm is now beginning to deploy this functionality, beginning with participants in its preview initiative.

During a hands-on session at CES, I tested the option and found it compelling enough to increase my daily use of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses. In my prior assessment of the device from last year, I highlighted the neural wristband's benefit in minimizing the need for verbal instructions—a relief since I often feel awkward addressing my eyewear aloud in crowded settings.

Until recently, responding to notifications on these glasses typically involved spoken input or basic canned responses. The new sketching method now enables the creation of personalized notes and replies in a more private manner.

Positioned at a desk with the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and neural wristband, I effortlessly composed a note by gesturing letters across the surface ahead of me. The system had a few glitches, such as confusing a uppercase 'I' for an 'H,' yet it proved remarkably user-friendly. I managed to form a brief phrase and fix an error, using a left-to-right gesture to insert a gap and a right-to-left motion to remove the previous symbol.

In addition to the sketching tool, Meta introduced an integrated script reader. Users can transfer lengthy content—up to 16,000 characters, equivalent to about 30 minutes of dialogue—directly to the glasses' viewfinder.

Unlike traditional script readers that advance text as one talks, Meta's implementation presents the material in separate panels that users navigate by hand. The developer shared that it first experimented with automatic progression, but initial feedback indicated a preference for manual pacing over the content's timing.

The script reader is entering deployment phase immediately, although Meta notes that full availability might require additional weeks for all users.

These enhancements represent some of the initial significant upgrades to the display glasses since their release toward the end of last year, underscoring Meta's commitment to ongoing improvements akin to those for its broader smart eyewear lineup. At CES, the company also revealed fresh developments for the neural wristband and confirmed a postponement of the glasses' global expansion.