The very first question we at CNET get about Google Glass is: "What is it?" The next two are "What's it like to wear?" and "Why would you want to?"
The frothing excitement around this prototype, titanium-framed wearable
computer has the tech world tripping over itself in a mad dash for Glass
access. Ten thousand or more Google Glass units are now shipping to
beta testers and winners of the If I Had Glass contest -- for a $1,500
price tag. But the big what, why, and how questions remain.
The answer, for now, is simple: Google Glass is Google on your face.
These early frames ship with the ability to take the very most recent
communications from your smartphone or Google accounts and show them to
you in a head-up display. They take phone calls. They send texts, take
photos and video, and show maps. They deliver search results. If you've
played with Google Now, the Glass interface is strikingly similar.
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But the sky is the limit for Google and its army of developers. Right
now, the experiences we have with these early devices are very personal
ones shaped largely by the reaction of our community and daily needs.
CNET got lucky enough to claim two Glass units -- one on each coast-- so
we're going to write about this very different device in a different
way.
CNET Senior Editor Scott Stein will kick off this hands-on review of
Glass first, giving his initial impressions from his New York/New Jersey
life. CNET Reviews Editor-in-Chief Lindsey Turrentine will chime in
next with her own perspective from the opposite coast (and the opposite
gender). We'll walk you through Google Glass' realities and
possibilities. Keep an eye on this review. It's going to get epic.
Is this a real product, anyway?
Google Glass
Explorer Edition is intended for developers and “early testers,” and
while this group of customers may include those who feel like they can
afford a $1,500 wearable device, everyday people aren’t the primary
target yet. But yes, Google Glass is a very real product, and it really
works, but its app support remains pretty limited. It looks like Google
Glass -- the consumer version -- will arrive sometime in 2014. In the
meantime, app developers and Google will be using this model to develop
software and experiences that will be incorporated into the consumer
version.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
What does Google Glass actually do?
Glass
takes photos, videos, sends texts, engages in FaceTime-like Google
Hangouts, makes regular phone calls, searches Google, and gets
turn-by-turn navigation with maps. It can show the weather, the time,
and get headlines from The New York Times pushed to the device, with
spoken headline summaries. For now, anyway, that’s about it. Some
features require tethering -- GPS-based functions that use the phone,
such as turn-by-turn directions. Others, like Google Hangouts and Google
Search, can also be performed over Wi-Fi. As an offline device, Glass
only takes photos and videos.
(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)
Scott:
Anyone who stares at you wearing
Google Glass thinks you’re a cyborg from some "Star Trek" spinoff,
scanning and doing impossibly invasive things that they aren’t privy to.
The illusion is greater than the reality. Google Glass could be an
augmented-reality Google Goggles-like “reality scanner,” but it isn’t
right now.
Sharing pictures and video via Google Glass is limited to your Gmail
contacts and Google+ circles, but there are extra oddities: you can only
currently add 10 of your Gmail contacts to Glass, and via a Web
interface management tool that’s not on Glass itself. Google Circles
have to be set up for sharing before you start (all pictures and videos
automatically upload to a private folder on Google+, however).
That extra layer of careful social management almost feels
Nintendo-like, in the sense that Nintendo’s hardware has often relied on
“friend codes” to manage online connections. This fixes some of Glass’
perceived privacy issues, but in the end, yes, you can still record
content in a very discreet manner, then share it online.
The point here: Google Glass does a certain set of tasks, and certainly
not all the ones most people think of when it comes to some wearable
Internet-connected display. Glass isn’t a true phone replacement, or
camera replacement, or tablet replacement -- not yet. As a hands-free
accessory, it can only do so much, and it doesn’t mirror everything I
can see on my phone. In that sense, I currently feel the urge to go back
to my phone screen and not lean on using Glass.
Check back tomorrow for Lindsey’s opinion on Glass’ functionality.
The hardware: Design and features
This
product is often incorrectly referred to as “Google Glasses” with good
reason. But it’s really more of a lensless eyeglasses frame, with a
mobile computing device built into the stem that sits on your right ear.
That right arm wraps around to a small transparent display that sits
above your right eye. Imagine if a wearable side-mounted camera grew a
glasses-frame construct, and that’s Glass.
Glass is lightweight,
more so than you’d think. The titanium frame is bendable. Little nose
contacts can be bent and adjusted for individual fit. The right side of
Glass has a thick back part that houses the battery, and all the rest of
the electronics: buttons, touch pads, and speaker.
The Glass
Explorer package comes with the Glass unit itself (in a variety of
colors), a snap-on sunglasses visor, a clear visor, and a Micro-USB
charger. A rigid cloth pouch stores Glass, but these goggles can’t be
folded up like regular sunglasses -- at least, in their current
iteration. It’s more like a visor, so you’d need some sort of larger
bag.
Glass runs on Android, but can connect to iOS and Android
devices. It can connect via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to a phone, or a laptop,
or a home Wi-Fi network, or even work alone as a disconnected offline
camera. The 5-megapixel camera shoots 720p video, 10 seconds at a time
by default. It has 12.5GB of onboard storage and a battery that’s meant
to last a day.
(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)
Scott:
Because you don’t need a phone to be
connected to Glass, it’s more of a smart home device than any smartwatch
I’ve ever seen. Depending on use, you’ll need recharging sooner than
later.
As an actual glasses-wearer, Glass feels more like the
framework for a pair of fancy 3D glasses than a regular glasses frame.
They can fit on top of my regular glasses with some flex, but they’re
really meant to be used glasses-free (for now; prescription versions and
other variations are in the works). This meant I had to rush to get a
pair of contact lenses, which was as disorienting as being fitted for
Glass. But Glass has an undeniably solid build quality. It’s not always
the most comfortable device, but it sits evenly on my face and remains
as innocuous as a pair of glasses. Adding on the clip-on sunglasses made
Glass feel a little less awkward. Maybe it’s the psychological
framework of actual glasses.
Check back tomorrow for Lindsey’s take on Glass’ features.
Style
Glass
is Google’s most style-oriented device, and as wearable tech, it should
be. Attention to detail in the colors, frame build, and accessories
feels as precise as the actual hardwear underneath. Does it pass the
test with our CNET editors thus far?
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Scott:
I appreciate the effort made with
Google Glass, but I can’t call it stylish. I felt as awkward wearing it
around on my first day as I did with an Xbox accessory worn on a subway.
The titanium frame has an Oakley-style vibe, and the Glass visor has a
cyberpunk-meets-rave feel, but to actually wear it to a cafe or a party
takes chutzpah. People either stared at me with apprehension, got
excited about tech, or thought I was an insufferable geek. Maybe that’ll
change.
Check back tomorrow for Lindsey’s review of Glass’ style.
Wearing and using Glass
The
eyepiece -- that small, clear visor -- is a thick stick of
half-mirrored material and has a small adjustment hinge for
left-to-right movement. It’s meant to float above your eye, not in front
of it. The screen is crisp and bright indoors but in bright sunlight
outdoors, it can get hard to see over your surroundings. It’s a 720p
display equivalent, which feels like a 25-inch screen that’s 8 feet
away.
A little lozenge-shaped raised bar above the right ear
houses a bone-conduction speaker. You can hear it, but it’s not as loud
as a standard earpiece. A microphone has decent receptivity outdoors,
but in noisy areas it’s like talking loudly into a Bluetooth headset.
The
wide, flat outer edge of the right side of Glass is a touch pad,
capable of four-direction swiping and tapping. You tap once to turn
Glass on (or, tilt your head upward to a user-determined angle), and
swipe and tap from there.
(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)
Scott:
Wearing Glass almost feels like
wearing a video game accessory. The simple set of buttons, clean lines,
and touch- and voice-based interaction resembles what Microsoft’s been
trying to do on the Xbox 360, but targeted to the real world.
Training
in Google’s Glass meeting room felt like the tutorial level of a video
game like Portal. Bridget Carey (a fellow CNET senior editor and
Glass-head inductee) and I were guided through various tasks in a
playground-like layout. Our first interactions were like adjusting to
in-game controls.
If Kinect and Siri had a baby and raised it
among a family of smartphones, it would be Google Glass. If you don’t
like engaging with Kinect and Siri, you won’t like this experience.
Voice recognition works, but has its hiccups. You can see the commands
you can perform, much like how Kinect’s command guidance system works.
I
made some phone calls to my wife (as mentioned earlier, Glass makes
normal phone calls), and she could hear me, but she wondered if it was
being made via speakerphone. It’s more successful at projecting video
than it is as an audio accessory.
But speaking to Glass is needed
to do most tasks efficiently. Swiping isn’t enough. Doing both can get a
little odd, and each interface -- touch and voice -- has its little
hiccups.
Yes, taking pictures and videos is incredibly easy, and
fast -- so fast, as Bridget Carey noted, that there isn’t a “cheese
moment” -- but everything else Glass does requires a lot of speaking and
head-tilting, swiping, and a degree of patience.
The combination
of voice and swiping sometimes comes off well, but it can be tedious,
with occasional accidental gestures. I deleted a few videos I shot by
accident, and very easily, by swiping/tapping in the wrong order. But,
these are still the early days; these interface elements can and will
evolve. Living with a touch pad on the side of your head takes some
getting used to.
Sometimes I wished the screen’s overlay was more
directly placed over my field of vision. I want real augmented reality.
Google Glass isn’t designed for that, exactly. It could accomplish
elements of that, but it’s more of a floating screen that stays separate
from the world around you, at least as far as augmenting objects is
concerned.
Glass apps and Google account integration
Glass
is meant to tie in to one Google account (Gmail), and with it, Google+
and Google Now. Apps don’t get downloaded; they populate seamlessly via
the MyGlass app on Android. Right now, they operate more like features
and push services (for instance, The New York Times' app really just
seems to push headlines down to the device).
Google Now is the
connected brain that pushes information to Glass. The current uses are
limited, but the potential is huge. Just as Google Now engages in
place-specific and predictive pushing of info from the Web to you, so
could it do to Glass, which has very similar info cards that you swipe
back and forth from.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Scott:
Glass is not a multiaccount device
right now; it’s meant to be your personality extension, serving your
Google accounts specifically. To that end, it caches a seven-day queue
of your recent activities on Glass’ interface.
It’s also
interesting how much of Glass gets managed outside of the Glass hardware
itself. The Glass settings and contacts dashboard lives on the Web, not
on Glass itself, so what you get via your Glass display are largely
simplified interactions. Even the settings area is bare-bones. Getting
onto a Wi-Fi network involves a mediated process. You can use the
MyGlass app to add networks, or you can go the slightly more complicated
route, which involves going to the MyGlass site on a Web browser,
entering each protected network’s ID and password, and generating a QR
code that you look at with Glass, at which point it logs on and
remembers the network from there.
I like the simplicity and focus
of the integration to your Google accounts -- but it’s clear that Glass
lives as an accessory that requires other connected computers to truly
set it up.
Come back tomorrow for Lindsey’s take on Glass' apps.
Social etiquette: Glass and everyone else
How
does Glass feel in public? Is it awkward, or is it fun? Does Glass feel
like a social imposition or something surprisingly socially engaging,
as Google seems to be promising?
(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)
Scott:
In a public place, if you’re like me,
you’ll feel incredibly awkward. I walked to my train station in
Montclair, N.J., and used navigation, but felt disoriented; my attempts
to look up meant I was distracted from what was in front of me. I wonder
if I would have been hit by car, or noticed if a clown was right next
to me juggling fire. It got better when I zoned out and acted like
nobody was watching, but as I got closer to people, I felt like I
shouldn’t be looking at them -- even if Glass wasn’t actually doing
anything.
On the train, in close quarters, I walked down the
aisle looking for a seat and felt like new kid in school, and not in a
good way. People stared, but cautiously. I didn’t want to look at them. I
didn’t want to make them feel uncomfortable. But there’s no way for a
camera conspiciously hovering on your glasses to not generate some level
of social discomfort, no matter how elegantly designed.
Glass'
gestures and controls are intended to be socially coded and visible: the
eyepiece glows, you’ll be speaking to yourself, you may be tilting your
head or touching the side of your head. But that doesn’t ease a
spectator’s sense that they’ll be recorded at any moment.
Let’s
face it, though: we’re in an age of connected cameras. The first camera
bonded on a smartphone introduced that years ago. Cameras everywhere can
see where we’re going. Social revolutions have happened via Twitter and
Facebook. Glass is another step in that direction. It's a significant
step, but still just a step.
Google Glass feels a bit more
intrusive at close quarters because it’s more personal; it never comes
off, whereas we’d normally put down a phone in that situation. That’s a
challenge, and while it’s the beginning for Glass and me, I’m curious
how that will be overcome.
Check back tomorrow for Lindsey’s take on public reactions to Glass.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
Into the future of the unexpected
Regardless
of whether you believe wearable smart devices are the future of how we
interact with the world around us, Google appears ready and engaged in
taking us there. Glass is a technology, not a product. Sure, it’s a
$1,500 pair of wearable titanium glasses today, with a battery-powered
5-megapixel camera and bone-conducting speakerphone bonded to a hovering
interactive display. It’s usable as a phone accessory. It could be used
around the home.
Google Glass has its discomforts and its
disconnects. It’s an early product that’s clearly in beta, but it’s also
an experiment. It’s a social-interaction project, it’s a living debate
on wearable tech, and it’s an app platform in need of apps. It’s not
necessarily a device that needs to exist, but it could have uses for
some. And some of its uses may not have been invented yet.
Over
the next few days we’ll be using it in all sorts of circumstances,
realistically and idealistically. We’ll report back with more
experiences, so stay tuned for our entire team review.
(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)
