So I’ve had Google Glass for almost a month now and the experience so far leans more towards the positive side. It still does have some drawbacks, and some third party features seem like they should perhaps come with the built in software.
I’m also still waiting for my pair of Google Glass frames to reach me. If all goes well, I should have them this week.
The Positive
- The presentation, as I mentioned previously, already had me pumped up to test these babies out.
- As I wore the device, I had to get used to having it so close but after that it became a second nature – just being there like I wear my normal glasses.
- I’m able to add apps to my Google Glass using the MyGlass app – something that works for iPhones and Androids.
- There’s a lot that this can do, and the above functionality only adds more things to the list of can-do’s in the future once more people have their hands on it. An airline has also done a week long test to see how well people receive a ticket agent wearing one.
- Being able to take pictures and video almost instantly with just a simple press or two are beneficial when you’re out and about but about to miss an awesome shot or moment.
- Answering an email or a text message via voice seems a little out there – depending on what you’re about to speak out loud – but it’s still fun.
- Getting rid of the annoying Bluetooth headset is a good thing, but you’re effectively getting another in return. It does do a lot more, however, and even tells me who’s calling so I can be just that more lazy – or ignore it if I’m in a meeting (sorry Jim).
- The camera quality is good, and the device lasts an okay amount of time. I did find that I didn’t get that heating problem a lot of people complain about when recording video for a long time. I actually shot a video with FDot that lasted about 30 minutes and my device was still going along fine and with barely any heat.
The Negative
- It is buggy. I’m not about to lie to you on that. Every full boot, Home doesn’t respond about 2-3 times so it force reboots. After the 3rd force reboot, it seems to catch itself and work fine.
- Battery life does die rather quickly in comparison to my phone. The longest I’ve seen it was probably around 5 hours of on and off use.
- Hanging it from my shirt when I go to the bathroom (camera facing up) sometimes causes it to activate due to the head tilt activation sensor. These things honestly aren’t really supposed to come off your face.
- Remember when I said some things should be built in? Something to transfer pictures and video, without using a third party app, would be excellent if even just for Android users. Wireless charging would also make sense so I don’t have to unplug my microUSB headset from it just to charge. I’d also like to have an app store on the device itself – but I understand why it’s on the phone’s app (sign in requests for info, etc.).
- Getting used to the “enable longer video” feature is weird since I have to long press the camera button to enable video recording and then tap the side to make it go longer than 9 seconds.
- Oh, and sometimes it doesn’t recognise your fingers on the side of it to cancel something or close out an app or website. It seems to like my right hand’s fingers over my left hand’s.
- Pictures taken in hallways seem to take a more narrow-bottom type style to them, my only guess is to make it seem more like the human eye? Normal pictures outside seem to be just fine though so I dunno.
Overall, it’s been a fun experience using them. Want to know how it feels to wear them out and about? That’s in the next, and last, part of this series.
