Finally, a social media application for Google Glass that does something other than share your delightful head level photos! The Google Plus app for Glass has just been updated in a major way. Push notifications are now enabled for direct shares, comments and + mentions. As a Google Plus junkie, being able to just look up to see what any activity on a post would be a fantastic feature.
Also new in the update are restrictions on background uploading. Now they may only take place when the device is not only plugged in, but also hooked up to a Wifi Network. I understand why plugging in is necessary. The serious battery life issues Glass has suffered are well documented, and background uploads certainly don’t help with that. However, I’m not sure why they wouldn’t allow uploading over bluetooth tethering. Yes most of the time if you’re plugged in you will probably have WiFi. Unfortunately not all plugs come with their own WiFi.
There were several smaller changes in the update. Incoming Hangouts will now get notifications and Transcription will now be apparently, “wicked fast.” In addition a few UI options were added, along with international number dialing and SMS. The curious can read through the full changelog at the end of this article.
Google’s Nexus products are famous for their rapid updates, and I’m glad to see Google taking the same route with their newest gadget. After all nobody wants to pay $1,500 for something the manufacturer may very well not support.
Many early reviews chastised Glass for its limited use potential. Right now there simply isn’t a whole lot that can be done with it. Luckily, we are seeing more features added every single day. This is the first application I could actually see myself becoming more productive with on a day to day basis, and I expect Google and the hundreds of hard-working devs will soon have dozens more. Do you believe that Google glass will actually be useful when it’s released to the public? Let us know in the comments below or on our Google+ page!
Here’s the full changelog below:
- Change to sync policy: require power + WiFi for background uploads
- Crash reporting
- Incoming G+ notifications (direct shares, comments, +mentions), including ability to comment and +1
- Incoming Hangout notifications
- Transcription of queries & messages is now wicked-fast
- Long-press to search from anywhere in the UI (no longer just from off)
- International number dialing + SMS
- Hop animation on disallowed swipes in the UI
- New On-Head Detection calibration flow
- Show device Serial Number on Device Info card
- More reliable estimation of battery charge remaining
- New recipient-list mosaic