Google Glass Will Be Available This Year, Will Work With iPhone
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
You’ve got to give it up to Google. One minute their Glass project is in flux and they’re asking developers and anyone else with $1500 to help them develop their futuristic glasses. Then, suddenly, Joshua Topolsky gets an exclusive with Glass, posts an interview he did with some Google execs, and learns they plan to release the thing in earnest by the end of this year.
CNET can confirm it: Google Glass will be available by the end of 2013 for $1500 and, if earlier rumors are true, Google may even be selling them at their own retail stores, just like Apple and their iPod.
Google has also confirmed Glass will be able to connect to Android and, yes, even the iPhone, via Bluetooth.
It could have been a bold move to lock out the iPhone from Glass, and honestly, it would have been a very Apple thing to do. Yet, Google has decided to take money from as many people as they can. These Glass frames will also be able to connect via Wi-Fi or the phones 3G or 4G, but Google said the glasses won’t have cellular radios built in.
Over the last year or so, Google has periodically teased this device with videos of what the Glass experience will look like. Most recently, the Android-maker announced they’d be opening up an application process wherein any regular old schmo (with the right address and $1500) would be able to help them test new features and develop these things. Google took the opportunity to officially change the name to just “Glass” as well as show off a new video about what these specs will be able to do.
Now it seems wearers will be able to communicate with these specs by tapping a button, saying: “Ok, Glass…” then finishing up with a voice command.
Topolsky tries out the features seen in this video, such as “Ok, Glass…record a video” or “Ok, Glass…take a picture.” In his heads-on review, Topolsky claims the experience is exactly like what we saw from the most recent Google video.
“Let me start by saying that using it is actually nearly identical to what the company showed off in its newest demo video,” writes Topolsky.
“That’s not CGI — it’s what Glass is actually like to use. It’s clean, elegant, and makes relative sense. The screen is not disruptive, you do not feel burdened by it. It is there and then it is gone. It’s not shocking. It’s not jarring. It’s just this new thing in your field of vision. And it’s actually pretty cool.”
Google also said they’ll be sending out monthly updates to those early adopters, calling them “Explorers,” to let them know how the development process is coming along.
According to product director Steve Lee, these Explorers are going to help Google figure out how normal, workaday people (or at least, the kind of people with a spare grand and a half laying around) are going to use Glass in the wild.
“What we’re trying to do is expand the community that we have for Glass users. Currently it’s just our team and a few other Google people testing it. We want to expand that to people outside of Google. We think it’s really important, actually, for the development of Glass because it’s such a new product and it’s not just a piece of software. We want to learn from people how it’s going to fit into their lifestyle.”
In the end, Topolsky believes Glass still has a way to go, but he’s convinced these things will be a hit for the common man.
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2013-02-22 21:31:14
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