All kinds of Google Glass news has been hitting the web today. The Glass Explorer program has apparently been sending out emails to those of us lucky enough to have been invited to join the pilot program. We have also learned the full specs for Google Glass explorer edition units so at long last, here they are.
Camera
- Photos – 5 MP
- Videos – 720p
Audio
- Bone Conduction Transducer
Connectivity
- Wifi – 802.11b/g
- Bluetooth
Storage
- 12 GB of usable memory, synced with Google cloud storage. 16 GB Flash total.
Battery
One full day of typical use. Some features, like Hangouts and video recording, are more battery intensive.
Charger
- Included Micro USB cable and charger.
While there are thousands of Micro USB chargers out there, Glass is designed and tested with the included charger in mind. Use it and preserve long and prosperous Glass use.
Compatibility
- Any Bluetooth-capable phone.
- The MyGlass companion app requires Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher. MyGlass enables GPS and SMS messaging.
This is where we would usually break down how these specs compare to similar devices, but since there are no similar devices we pretty much just have to take these for what they are. It will be interesting to see if later editions of Glass include compatibility with the iPhone. I think it is safe to assume that Google will eventually bring to the MyGlass app to iOS at some point, but we shall see.
The display is said to be “the equivalent of a high-definition 25 inch screen from 8 feet away .” This is a tad mind-bending since the display is actually only a couple of inches from your eye, but it is also only about a square inch in size. But this does give us an idea of how much of a user’s field of vision will be taken up by the screen; that is to say, not much. Some people have voiced concerns that Glass would consume someone’s perspective but this doesn’t seem to be the case.
The feature I am the most excited about is the bone conduction transducer audio that Google Glass uses. Until now the technology has always been cost prohibitive or too battery intensive to be used on a large-scale. But in theory this should provide crisp, clear sound by vibrating the bones in the back of your skull. The other advantage of bone conduction transducer audio is that it doesn’t make it difficult to hear the noises around you, which will certainly be a welcome feature to all Glass users.
The MyGlass app is not useful to anyone who doesn’t have a Google Glass unit in hand, but you can check out the screenshots below to get a general idea of what the UI looks like. Google is certainly sticking to its signature “Card UI” for everything Glass.
The Google Glass setup website is now public as well. It will help you connect your unit to your Google account and it looks very user-friendly. Advancing through the steps moves your horizontally across the screen.
It is certainly exciting to see Google Glass get one step closer to going on sale to the general public. As we learn more and more about the device we will keep you up to date. We are all looking forward to Google I/O at the end of May when we are hoping to get a lot more details about when the rest of us will be able to get our hands on Google Glass.