Reports have been surfacing that only after six months of use that Google’s Glass are breaking apart, features malfunctioning, and parts of the glass or prisms breaking. In a Facebook posting one such user’s prism “totally disintegrated,” according to the most famous Glasshole (as they are called) of all times, Robert Scoble – the guy in the shower with his Glass on…you have got to love this guy and his fearless enthusiasm!
Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land, in a Google+ posting, also had a mishap with his Glass when they got wet from water spraying up while Kayaking, saying they never went in the water, but there was a lot of spraying. He went on to say:
As for me, I won’t use them when sailing again, which makes me sad — they’re ideal for that sport. I continue to use them when paddleboarding, as I’m higher off the water, so the exposure to possible moisture is less. Assuming, of course, I don’t go in (knock wood). But I’m pretty stable on the paddleboard, and they’re super-useful for that. I can snap shots of the harbor, share pictures, send and get texts from home.
This is a good example of the use of Glass and an excellent example why these kinds of incidences need to be remedied before Glass goes on sale sometime in 2014.
Robert Scoble also commented on Danny Sullivan’s post with a good outlook and smart advice:
Also, don’t put a sticker on yours. I did and it peeled away the reflective surface too. Yeah, when they manufacture these they need to fix this and a few other hardware issues (like they are too easy to break behind the ear). I think this is why you need to beta test hardware like this before shipping millions of units. Very smart of Google.
Tim Stevens tweeted about his mishap this past June:
It must be noted that Google has a great replacement policy and normally replaces them with no questions asked. Is this a case of Google pushing a “broken” Glass promise or simply trying to eliminate the bugs before they begin a mass selling campaign in 2014 – I think we can say it is certainly the latter. Google is constantly making changes with Glass, improving the software weekly, and giving Developers the time to design some awesome apps for the device – make no mistake, the finished product will be far from the fragile, makeshift design that we see today. If the Patent filings we are seeing are any indication, the final Glass will look much more like a normal pair of glasses.
I wouldn’t start panicking yet – Google’s Glass is still in the experimental and testing phase, designed to eliminate the problems that are currently being experienced by Glassholes. The final product will be built to prevent these failures.