IN DEPTH: I wore Google Glass for one year and heres what I experienced Cheerished memories of an admitted Glasshole Today is the first day Google Glass isnt available through the official Google Play Store, even if you have the $1,500 (£1,000) in hand and shout Okay, Glass, shut up and take my money. Wearing the now-retired Explorer Edition prototype for a little over a year, I saw important messages beamed to my eye and captured parts of my life via the first-person perspective. It made the sci-fi-looking wearable worth owning. But while I found Google Xs three-year-old experiment worked more often than not, there were a lot of times it didnt function right or suffered from bad publicity. Heres what I liked, the myths I hated dealing with and the reaction of other Google Glass Explorers about what they liked about donning the unique gadget. Hands-free horseback riding Snapping photos and capturing video became the standout Google Glass feature because it could be done hands-free, with the sound of my voice or even by simply blinking my eye. And, really, it was the easiest thing to demo to someone donning Google Glass for the first time. So if you were going to be shown one thing, it was that, not how my personal email works. Google Glass hands-free photos came was clutch during a number of situations, but where the 5-megapixel shooter worked better than my iPhone was while horseback riding on vacation. Scenic views of nearby lakes and distant mountains were missed by the lenses of trotting horseback riders on this trip. They could take photos before mounting the horse or after. With Google Glass, I was able to hold on to the saddle with my right hand, steer the reigns with my left and say Okay Glass, take a picture and Okay Glass, record a video with my voice Fascination at Disneyland As part of my epic 8,000-word Google Glass review for TechRadar, I took this sci-fi-looking wearable throughout Magic Kingdom in Disneyland. Admittedly, most of the rides were too dark to film and as handy as the Google Glass camera was in daylight, its lack of a flash or acceptable low-light performance made it fairly useless. That didnt matter to people in the long lines who were curious about the peculiar-looking gadget, often calling in those Google glasses Ive seen on the news. Everyone, thinking I was a fixture of Tomorrowland, wanted to know more about it and were instantly stunned when I explained that it could beam important emails to my eye and translate foreign words with an English text overlay. Hearing about what these intrigued people thought it could be used for in the future was fascinating. And also, being more popular than Mickey Mouse for a day was truly interesting. People I met along the bike path Beyond my own experiences, I was always interested in meeting new Google Glass owners and hearing about their daily use of the Explorer Edition. This occurred at CES and E3, but the best gatherings happened at worldwide Google Glass Night Out meetups like one in which two dozen LA-based bike riders donned the wearable. Taking photos and video while cycling down Los Angeles beach-side Stand pathway was an experiment in and of itself. Keeping Google Glass charged was also an arduous task. However, the shared challenges gave me the ability to connect with smart-minded, tech-savvy individuals, many of whom I still talk to today. In fact, their experiences are on Page 3. Of course, for every one Google Glass highlight, there are about two myths that made owning the Explorer Edition a minefield among the privacy-conscious. Myth #1: Im always recording you Youre boring. Im not filming you because youre not doing anything interesting, for starters. In fact, my first realization that you exist was you pestering me with the question Are you recording me right now? I once had someone approach me from across the street, tap me on the back and ask me if I was recording them. And they were serious! Thats not possible for so many reasons. Battery life is precious on Google Glass. Youre lucky to get a half hour of straight recording time when its fully charged (its never fully charged). A stranger would have to be spontaneously combusting for me to want to record them. Google Glass also contained a healthy 16GB or internal storage and I never ran out of space thanks to cloud backups, but what am I going to do with all that video? Nothing. Youre boring. Get over yourself. Myth #2: Its banned everywhere Every time Google Glass gets banned at a bar, restaurant or some other public location, it makes headlines. But I rarely ran into a problem during my one year of wearing the device. In fact, I was only politely asked to take it off twice in 13 months. The first time didnt even make sense. I was at CES, walking through a casino next to the floor but not on it. A security guard saw me and shouted No Google Glass! That made sense, except I was with a crowd of journalists who had just exited a CES bus and had an uncapped 1080p Canon T3i hanging chest-level and pointed at the casino floor. Somehow, that wasnt a problem. The other time was at a restaurant in San Jose, right near Googles Mountain View campus. It seemed the closer I got to people in the know, the more it offended. Glasshole, first time use and price Myth #3: Everyone calls you a Glasshole No one calls me a Glasshole. They typically ask Do you ever get called a Glasshole? The answer is always No. Why? Because everyone wants to try it out at least once. They know thats not going to happen with a bunch of juvenile name calling. No one is going to ruin their chance at demoing one-of-a-kind Google Glass by ticking off the person who owns the expensive device. People often have only one chance to check it out. Myth #4: Its awesome when you use it for the first time The first time I used Google Glass was days before I received my invite. I had toyed around with a friends Explorer Edition and didnt like the demo. I can imagine that a lot of people go through the same thing. But, when you think about it, Google Glass is a personalized device. My first run throughout didnt have my email, messages, contacts, apps or Google Now alerts, all things that make Glass unique to the owner. Bottom line: You cant trust an opinion someone who has used Google Glass in guest mode. Its just not a fair use of the device, whether its a positive or negative opinion. Myth #5: Its a mobile replacement Google Glass is easily summarized as your smartphone that rests above your right eye. For the most part, thats true, except its not going to replace your iPhone 6 or Nexus 6. Among the issues: At 5 megapixels, it cant take better photos, voice commands dont work in moderately noisy locations and the resolution makes it hard to see in the daylight. Also, as bad as your smartphones battery life may be by the time the clock strikes midnight, its difficult to get more than four hours with Google Glass with extremely conservative use. Stories about airline flight attendants for check-ins and police using Google Glass instead of body cameras made me wince. Its just not that reliable yet and not a final product. Myth #6: It was too expensive That brings me to the final myth that I think many people will disagree with initially: Google Glass was too expensive. The point wasnt to put it in the hands of everyone, though. It was a prototype limited, at first, to developers. There were very few apps for it in the beginning and about 50 at the end. If Google Glass had launched at $300, it wouldve been something neat that a lot more people slurged on, but put down almost immediately. It would have failed whole a lot faster. As expensive as it was, it restricted the availability through invites to people who really wanted to tinker with a futuristic product ahead of its time. That was the right approach for Google X. Were not going to be donning a face-worn wearable any en masse time soon, but it was nice to experiment with the idea for a year. The next page includes what other Google Glass owners Ive met liked about wearing the $1,500 (£1,000) prototype. Other Google Glass owners experiences A handful of helpful Google Glass Explorers gave me insight into their own experiences with the now-defunct wearable. Heres what they had to say: Cecilia Abadie Google Glass driving ticket recipient, app developer and director at APX Labs Glass Explorer Edition was a completely new product category reaching customers, it started a new era in computing, now many other companies are on the space and its a viable outlet for the enterprise, should be for consumer too soon. For me personally, it was an amazing experience to be part of an active passionate community of Glass Explorers, meeting and speaking with people around the planet. Spencer Kleyweg Hands down Glass really helped me make great connections and lifelong friends from a single tech product, which simply doesnt happen with other products. JR Curley It gave me an incredible opportunity to explore and understand how Google Glass could make a positive impact in our world and day to day lives. Glass continues to help me live in the moment while still leveraging technology to streamline my personal life and business. Ian Tang I think the Explorer program helped me realize just how much we rely on technology and, sometimes, arent able to fully live in the moments that matter, whether its because we have our hands tangled up with holding technology or because we have to stop what we are doing to send a message back to someone. The Explorer edition of Glass showed the potential of wearable technology and that wearables wont only come in one shape or size (e.g. watch). Theres so many possibilities and I think the Explorer edition made all of us, Explorers or not, think a little bit about technology in our lives. Thomas Schwartz I am a photographer and Glass has made a huge impact on my art. It allows me to capture spontaneous hands free works of art that I otherwise wouldnt be able to capture. Over the past year, I have also really loved opening peoples eyes to technology. Glass has been a piece of technology that has fascinated people from all different age groups. My first demo was for a 70-year-old woman in a parking garage who saw me wearing them. And they really fun to demo to kids as well. So while, currently it might not be consumer ready, I think it really opens peoples eyes. Chara Kelley Winning Glass help me to create and show myself what I am capable of. Before winning Glass I had no idea what a MP3 player was. Now I build glassware and have 200 beta testers of my own SignForGlass. I also just attended my first CES & Pitched on Shark Tank. When I won the Glass two years ago I retired and became a humanitarian for technology by sharing my Glass with the World. Liza Gere I have never been a person to whip out a cell phone for pictures so what I would end up with was limited. Having Glass I have been able to capture moments that would otherwise pass and be forgotten. Glass has also been amazing on the social level as well. It is the best ice breaker. I have met so many wonderful people that I never would have if it wasnt for Glass. I still use mine every day and hope to see it in the consumer market in the future. Carms Perez For me personally Glass was amazing at concerts I was able to record what was in front of me and dance and party without excluding myself from the experience since I didnt have to hold on to a camera. It definitely helped me grab attention from strangers and meet other geeks like me who were intrigued by the concept. My favorite feature will always be Hangout video calling which was great for cooking and showing my friends what I was up to in real life. I look forward to whats coming next and I will most likely be rocking it when it does release. Brian Buquoi I came into the Glass Explorer Program due to a love of technology, Im not a developer. If I had to pick what Glass helped me do the most, it would be that it helped me to connect. The social aspect of Glass, whether it be via the Hangouts Glassware, the Livestreams, the communities - these are the things that drove me to connecting. One of the things I can truly thank Glass for is the experiences it has led me to have. Without being a part of this community, I wouldnt have been able to speak with and meet such amazing people, including the awesome Glass Team I was so excited to meet up with. It truly has been an amazing conglomerate of people from all over the world that have been a lot of fun to talk to and spend time with. Ari Adler The Explorer Edition of Glass provided me with some amazing opportunities in the first year that I have owned it. (I received my first unit in December 2014. Im on my third due to the foil bubble issue. I suppose if I have any concerns about the program shifting gears it is over what happens to Explorer editions that develop the dreaded foil bubble). Joshua Masterson What Glass helped me do most was to capture moments in my life through the camera, where I would otherwise use my smartphone or DSLR camera. It helped keep my hands free and my head held high. JoEric M I remember the days of the Walkie Talkie era on Nextel. Communicating was simple and instant. Now with text messaging/chatting it requires authentication, loading, typing, all while disconnecting from the world. Glass definitely has streamlined that process for me. All my friends and family mocks me for saying that thinking that its just as easy to just do it the old way. Sure. But then its just as easy to wash your clothes by hand instead of using the washer and dryer, or ride a horse to the store instead of a car. Reading my news has also changed for me. Prior to Glass I relied on Google Reader for my news outlet. With Glass I configured Google+ to notify me of my news sites I frequent. It instantly shows up in my HUD. Click it if its interesting and have time, ignore or swipe away if its unimportant, or simply hang Glass around my neck if I dont want to be disturbed. Jen Vargas Being a Google Glass Explorer helped me share a little of my world with the rest of the planet. Im not a developer. Im not a celebrity with a large platform. Im one person, who lives in one town, in one country on planet Earth. What I think Glass helped me do the most was challenge people to think beyond the tech and examine how a device like this could help others in their community, family, social circles and more. Perhaps I inspired someone to get more involved locally through volunteerism or abroad via voluntourism? Maybe something I posted encouraged someone to just pay attention? Regardless of the hows, the whys and whats are the win. When Google invited me to be a Glass Explorer (via Twitter of all things), I had no idea what to expect. Not being a developer, I was very excited and a little shocked to even be a consideration. And hats off to the Google Glass Guides and Glass Team! They never once made me feel insignificant or lesser because of this. With every phone call, every visit to a basecamp, every email; I have always felt like a valuable member of the original Glass Explorer team. Any time I had equipment issues, a replacement arrived on my doorstep virtually overnight. If this kind of high quality customer experience continues through to the next generation of Glass, any hiccups that may happen will certainly be eclipsed, My goal with Glass from the beginning was a project I called #Glass4good, now #Wearables4good. Through Glass I would share what I normally do in and around my community (volunteering, working as part of Floridas film and tv industry, covering events, etc) with the hope of inspiring others to do the same in their communities. Almost two years later Im still regularly sharing (and hopefully) still inspiring others to get and stay involved, whether its #throughglass or otherwise. Jaris JC Miller What the Explorer Edition of Glass did most for me is acted as a launching point for developing the first generation of computer-mind interfaces. I have been talking about the technology with the Seattle SeaHawks developers discussing how Glass could be utilized as a visual/mindfulness aid in training environments. The ability to record information from narrative first person point of view and immediately review has numerous applications in a variety of settings, including providing immediate sensory biofeedback for training purposes as well as novel ways of storytelling. Glass breaks the 4th Wall and integrates viewers directly into the first person experience. It is also very intimate and requires trust in the recording process. You see what the person sees through THEIR eyes and feel what they feel in the moment. This is very very powerful and we as Explorers are just beginning to scratch the surface of this emerging form of visual communication and visual immersive aesthetic. Glass was the first shot across the bow. Oculus and Tony Hsiehs project will extend the immersive environment that Glass launched. I would love to see Glass take this kind of experience to the next level. Marc Konchar Most importantly it helped me meet some really great people both locally in person and online from all over the world. Im not a developer but Ive always loved to be on the forefront of technology using products that most people have never even heard of and this has been one of the best experiences of that so far. I wear Glass with prescription lenses all day every day and Ive never had a bad experience in public so far. Obviously I get a lot of strange looks and questions but Im always happy to give demonstrations and I love to see how excited people get once they see what it can do. Other than that I appreciate how Glass has helped me stay in the moment more instead of pulling out my phone to either check notifications or to take pictures. I dont believe for a second that Google is abandoning the product and I cant wait to see what comes next and to be a part of it. Its been a pleasure and I cant thank the Glass Team enough for choosing me a year ago. Ned Sahin Google Glass helped me help people with Autism. The Explorer Edition, which has been part of my daily life since July/August 2013, has helped me channel my neuroscience expertise into making practical tools for the challenges of autism, using the unique features and form factors of Glass.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:24:12 +0000
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