The specifications are impressive and the developers are ready and waiting to innovate – Google Glass has arrived. Well, almost. Google has released the technical specs (forgive the pun) of its long-awaited augmented reality product, revealing there will be nearly 24 hours of battery life, depending on use; 12 gigabytes of usable storage; a five-megapixel camera; and the facility to record 720p high-definition video.
The display may be directly in front of users’ eyes but, according to Google, it will be perceived by those wearing the device as viewing “the equivalent of a 25-inch high-definition screen from eight feet away”. The device will include voice-recognition technology and users can also use their hands and head movements to control the glasses.
An early version of the “smartglasses”, the Glass Explorer edition, will be shipped to app developers this week, with a reported 8,000 prototypes making their way into the wild.
“We'll be notifying you in waves, and as soon as we're ready to invite you we'll let you know,” the company told interested developers who are being encouraged to create apps that match the unusual interface.
In a mark of creative control, Google warned that developers “may not include any advertisements” as part of those apps for now. The apps created – “glassware”, to give them their official title – will be cloud-based, as opposed to residing in the device as happens with smartphones.
Those who get their hands on Google Glass will notice a micro-USB port for charging the battery. Forconnectivity the glasses have bluetooth and wifi which, via the magic of the Android-based MyGlass application, will allow users online as well as enabling GPS and SMS messaging.
The glasses are one size fits all, with adjustable nose-pads in different sizes complementing what Google has promised will be a durable frame.
Dermot Daly, founder of Dublin-based app developer Tapadoo, says that while many people will be willing to buy the glasses, "the challenges for Google are far more around society and how the product works with users and what's around them".
App developer and DIT School of Computing lecturer, and app developer Bryan Duggan said Google Glass "is part of a trend where companies are pushing the boundaries of privacy and seeing how much personal information they can gather about everybody but also providing a useful service at the same time."
Despite his concerns, Duggan said he imagines he will get a pair of the glasses anyway.
Set to be released later this year, the consumer edition will eventually cost less than the €1,150 price tag developers are paying this week to get their hands on the Glass Explorer edition.
