Google Glass… What is it?

If you’re in tech circles you have probably already heard of Google Glass, in fact, it may be old news to you. But since I know everyone isn’t in the know for all tech going ons, I have a few tidbits on this new tech that I’m sure you’ll love to hear. What does this mean for wireless communication, and how does it actually work?

The short answer is… We’re not really sure how it works. So far we have some tech pictures and a tech demo of how they hope it will work. I’ll try to explain it best I can and also leave a handy youtube video at the bottom of their tech demo. Essentially Google Glass is more accurately Google Glasses. From what it seems in the pictures you can connect this device to your glasses, or get glass free glasses for the device. It isn’t something that blocks all of your vision, but stays at the top, so you have to look up to activate any of it’s features before it takes up any visual space. Even when it moves into your vision, it is only on one eye, so theoretically you should be able to walk around just fine… maybe.

The tech demo shows off a ton of features that are actually found in most Android phones. A free navigation app, voice controlled menus, speech to text feature for texting and picture to picture phone calls. My favorite features shown were the over-layed maps that moved with you, and the sharing view feature for phone calls.  Think about it! You’r out and about and you see a street performer or have an amazing view you want to show a friend. Simply call them up and share your view and they’re literally seeing exactly what you see.

The Google Glass also seems to have multiple menu options when doing different tasks, how those options are selected isn’t really clear. The tech demo shows the person (seen in 1st person view) looking at options he wants, but not really saying anything. This leads me to believe that your iris is tracked and used as a selecting mechanism when going through multiple options. I could see this being a bit of a problem if your walking or driving a car (which is probably something you shouldn’t do!). They show the person walking around, but I can see a future of people suddenly stopping in their tracks, looking up and just staring into the distance as they select options or answer texts.

Now, what does this potentially mean for your Android phone? Well, whether you have a Used Cell Phone or a New one, most smart phones come with Bluetooth. I am going to assume this device has Bluetooth capabilities to connect to your phone to access data and cell connections. I can’t imagine someone using this device as their primary cell phone, and I hope Google recognizes this. If that is the case, and it simply connects to your existing Android phone, I would love to get my hands on this device. I only wear glasses rarely, but this may make them a more common occurrence for me.  Below is the Google Glass tech demo! Enjoy!

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