My experience with a Snapbot

Today I went to visit a Snapbot at Boxpark in Shoreditch, London which are the (very) unique vending machines that sell Snap Spectacles. This is one of two which are currently situated in the UK for the next three weeks.

When I first approached the Snapbot, I was a little apprehensive as I wasn’t convinced that I had found the correct place as there was no branding on the machine, apart form Snaps’ distinctive yellow. As well as this, there weren’t any queues or long lines of people waiting to approach the machine which I was expecting as I had frequently seen in America.

Once I had confirmed that I was in the correct place, a friendly and helpful woman approached me and asked if I needed any assistance which I gladly accepted. I was told that they were planning on branding the area around the Snapbot in the coming weeks. She then explained how the Snapbot worked and gave me a pair of teal Spectacles to try.

When you first approach the Snapbot, it blinks at you admirably with its one eye until you choose a colour by pushing one of the three large buttons. Once you have selected one of the three (coral, black or teal) a camera above the circular LCD screen activates and an image of yourself appears wearing the selected colour. A simple try before you buy function. You can flick between the colours to try the different looks. Once you have picked your favourite colour, you can insert your card into the reader on the right hand side of the screen to complete your purchase. The Spectacles are then dispensed below.

The Spectacles themselves are made of a strong plastic and I was surprised that they did not feel cheap or tacky as the images I have previously seen suggested. They were comfortable to wear and didn’t look silly on. The Spectacles are paired to your phone via Bluetooth and to take a 10 second video you simply press the button on the left hand side of the frame. Snapchat records videos in 10 second frames but if you wanted to record a longer video then you can press the button multiple times. If you were to press it three times, it would upload three separate, 10 second long videos to Snapchat. The flashing light indicates to those around you that the Spectacles are recording; however as the wearer I was unable to tell when the recording had finished. The idea is that you can stay in the moment you are experiencing without having to fumble for your phone to record what is happening around you.

Videos are uploaded to the Snapchat app on your phone within about 10 – 15 seconds and are saved in your memories. You can then select the snaps that you want to send from here. You can also download the footage to watch on your desktop or laptop and any videos that you did take over 10 seconds will be available as one single section of footage outside of Snapchat.

Let me know in the comments if you are planning on visiting the Snapbot yourself for the experience or to make a purchase.