Ok Glass, Write a Review

25 Jun 2014

Hello. My name is David and I am a Glasshole. I realize after a month with Glass you get that monicker whether you use Glass obnoxiously or if you just quietly go about your business with it. That’s one of the issues with Glass but it’s not the only issue.

The Bad

That’s hot

And not the way Paris Hilton used to call everything “hot,” I mean this thing actually gets uncomfortably warm after extended use.

This is heavy

And not like Marty McFly used to say, I mean it weighs a lot for glasses. The device is actually startlingly light, but it’s heavy by the standard of glasses and after about an hour I have to give my right ear (the one bearing all the electronics) a break.

Crashes and reboots

The latest update seems to have fixed a lot of this issue, but it was still a huge pain to have it reboot out of nowhere or worse; during use.

Turn off and stay off

Glass seems to power itself on when it’s plugged in. I powered you down and plugged you in because I’m not using you, Glass. Don’t turn on because I plugged you in, that will just make you charge slower. And speaking of charging…

Battery life

The battery life is less than stellar, even with only moderate use. On the other hand, the device is so small and is doing so much network heavy stuff it’s impressive the thing lasts as long as it does.

The peanut gallery

Okay. I get it. It’s kind of (incredibly) dorky. It’s apparently also a terrifying invasion of everyone’s privacy (unlike the super futuristic spy device we all carry around all the time in the shape of a smartphone), but the constant remarks and snide comments are benefiting exactly no one. Relax.

Only some notifications

This one is a little petty but it’s one of the big reasons I’m looking forward to Android Wear so much; I want ALL of my notifications to go to my second screen, not just some of them. If I even allow a notification at this point it’s because I want to know about it.

The Good

Screencasting

People will constantly ask you what it’s like and you can cast what you’re seeing on Glass to your phone screen.

Hangouts are awesome

When they work, which isn’t always, but being able to show someone what you’re looking at live and remotely is pretty cool. Particularly if you have a new baby and live far away from your family. Which is also why…

Photos are surprisingly good

The photos glass takes are actually really solid. And with a dedicated shutter button (plus the voice command and ridiculous wink action) it’s super fast to snap a photo of whatever is in front of you. This is probably the deal-maker feature for me because I can play with my daughter and snap pictures of her without a camera separating us and interrupting.

Navigation

As a lifelong gamer, having a HUD map with my destination marked and my path highlighted is kind of a childhood dream come true. Now I just need Bluetooth low energy speakers everywhere to play situation appropriate music when I’m around.

The Conclusion

Google Glass isn’t magical, but it has magical moments. It’s usefulness to average people is debatable, but when it is useful it’s really useful. It gets a thumbs up from me because it is an incredibly future thinking project. The main complaint people have about Glass is that it’s dorky (a close second being a tie between battery life and “privacy concerns”) but if it looked indistinguishable from regular glasses, or somehow was in a contact lens (or just became stylish over time) then people would hail it as a revolution in computing. HUDs and wearables are going to happen, and we need to be willing to engage in these experiments and wackiness to find out what works, what doesn’t, and what the social boundaries of cutting edge technologies are.