I just bought one of these for 150€, second hand. I do a lot with AR and VR and it was fun to play with. It’s something very different from consumer glass (despite the fact that they both look almost exactly the same), out of the box this thing can do absolutely nothing. If you take google glass out of the box, there isn’t even any software on it, just an android devoid of apps. There was a beta camera app on it, but it has been removed in the latest firmware.

Google primarily marketed this as an alternative to fuzzix or Realware. They are used by field service personnel receiving remote support. This allows the support person to see where the field service man is (as he is not often a woman). ) Consider and give advice. You need software for this, such as PointR or Ubimax. You can then bring this up automatically using MDM (Mobile Device Management) software. This works well with glass.

Technically this is a working solution, but the problem is that almost everyone who is looking for this also has a solution strong want a solution. Because the people who do this kind of work almost always work in fairly harsh industrial environments. Vuzix and RealWear offer this, and they also have an entire ecosystem of safety eyewear and helmet mounts. Google Glass is not powerful and intended only for the office environment, as the devices were originally intended for consumer use. And let the office be an environment where there is not much need for it.

So, it was a slightly strange product that just falls into a very specific niche but writes itself about it at many points at the same time. No wonder they quit. At work we have hundreds of vuzixes and realwears, but there has been no interest in glass because of the above points.

By the way, you could do more with it than with the above story, but the problem is that it’s delivered so bare-bones that you need additional software for it. And as far as I know there is no enterprise glazing software that does what the consumer version can do. Like viewing notifications from your phone, doing vertical navigation while walking and so on. Google was apparently hoping other companies would develop this for Glass (since there’s a full device included) but that never happened. The only thing that has started is support for practical support use cases (“you see what I see”). Unfortunately.

Note: What’s also annoying about this thing is that the battery keeps draining, even if you charge it to full and then neatly turn it off in Android (so don’t put it to sleep). However, the battery will be empty in a few days. So you either have to charge it every few days, or keep in mind that the battery ages quickly. Because lithium polymer batteries age very quickly when empty.

[Reactie gewijzigd door GekkePrutser op 16 maart 2023 16:25]