Like most of you, I’ve heard plenty about Google Glass and seen some interesting demos — including the amazingly cool one at the Google I/O keynote this morning that featured skydivers and stunt bike riders. It wasn’t until Sergey Brin put a prototype pair on my face this afternoon, though, that I realized just how cool they are and how important they may become.
To start with the glasses really are featherlight. I know we’ve heard that before, but I didn’t really believe it until now. They may not be lighter than my plastic reading glasses, but they are definitely feel lighter than my sunglasses — perhaps because the weight is nicely balanced in front of and behind one ear, instead of being bulked up in front and weighing down on the bridge of the nose.
The screen is surprisingly small and out of the way — a key design goal for the team. Brin and the rest of the team were very clear that a big piece of the project’s mission is to provide technology that does not get in the way of everyday life. At the same time, the image on the screen — mostly demo videos provided for us by Google — was razor sharp. Glass is designed to project the image at far-focus, so if you have good eyesight or corrective lenses (like me) that allow you to see in the distance, there is no need to re-focus to see the image. This is a big improvement over trying to look down at a dashboard or a phone, which requires some serious effort or reading glasses for anyone who is eyesight-challenged.
Brin and his product managers were very clear that they don’t see Glass as a phone replacement, or as a device that’ll be used for heavy web-surfing. Instead they envision it as a great way to share the moment with others, and to find information that might be relevant right then and there. Glass makes it simple to capture video, stills, and even time-lapse photos — one product manager gave the example of capturing images every ten seconds on a bike ride with no effort on his part, and without distracting from the ride or his chatting with his fellow riders.
Clearly the team has thought through many of the usability issues inherent in sticking a screen in front of your face. By placing the image outside your normal field of view, they made sure it doesn’t get in the way. When you receive a priority message for example — the default is to only alert the user of priority messages — Glass gently beeps. It only shows you the message if you tilt your head up like I am in this photo — which it figures out using its built-in sensors.
To help make the most of this amazing new hardware platform, Google is signing up thousands of developers to get an “Explorer” version of Glass early in 2013, for $1500. It expects to have a product for consumers — at a lower price point, but still premium-priced — perhaps by the end of 2013. For one, I’m incredibly excited about the possibilities. Sure, for awhile you’ll look like a dork walking around with a pair, but that was true of Bluetooth earpieces until they became a fashion item and are as commonplace as briefcases now.
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