We all heard just a couple of days ago that the first Google Glass Explorer editions had begun to ship to developers, and now we have the first unboxing and the first video taken by someone who doesn’t work for Google. Keep in mind that this first edition has a 5 megapixel camera that can shoot 720p video.
Although Glass has a standard mini-USB port for charging and data transfers, Google recommends that you only use the cord that comes with the device to charge it in order to prolong the life of your battery. I’m pretty sure I’ll need to label mine when it gets here because I have lost count of the number of charger kicking around my apartment.
Also included in the box are two visors, a carrying bag, and of course the actual Google Glass unit, as you’ll note from the above picture.
The first every video uploaded by a consumer Google Glass user was of a go-kart ride. We learned a few interesting things from the video below. First of all I could decimate this guy on a go-kart track any day of the week. He takes those turns too sharply and almost comes to a stop coming out of the curve. Second, the wearer seemed to need to adjust the glasses a couple of times towards the beginning of the video, but I think it is safe to chalk that up to him being nervous that if his Google Glass unit falls off he will have sacrificed a $1500 device for a $10 go-kart ride.
The video quality is pretty much you would expect from a standard smart phone these days. There certainly isn’t anything mind-blowing about the frame rate or resolution but it certainly gets the job done. I wouldn’t expect to see a very high-end camera in the first mass-market version of the device but we might find more about future iterations of the device at Google I/O near the end of may. Check out the go-kart video below and let us know what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vetiQ9JFRws