Google Upgrades Glass, But Not to Current Owners

Google Glass is coming  – there is no stopping it.  It has been a slow, methodical process that Google has self-imposed on itself.  They know what kind of product they have and want to make sure they get Glass right, the first time. When you have a brand new product and are working from the ground up, you need to think of many things such as hardware, software and Apps – plenty of Apps.  Google has had no problem attracting App developers to the Glass project – I think they are excited about Glass’ potential and hence the potential for their App.  Google knows how important Apps are to the success of a product…after all, the product needs to do something in order to create a need or desire from the public.  What Google has done is created an extended beta study…with the beta testers buying the product they are testing (has that ever happened before).  Not only are the participants willing to pay $1,500, there is a line waiting to get in on the project.  By continually getting feedback, Google has been able to make incremental improvements in both hardware and software – and they have just announced a newer revision. After carefully weighing all of the suggestions and thinking about future needs, Google decided to up the RAM from 1GB to 2GB.  They also increased the battery size and made some software updates to increase the length of time between charges – up to 15-percent longer.  Steve Lee, a Glass Product Manager claims that the extra RAM will help on two fronts – it will allow more Glassware (Apps) to run simultaneously as well as help the Apps open faster.  In other words, you should notice Glass running smoother, faster and feel more reliable.  Units with the larger battery began shipping way back in March, but most of the increase in battery life comes with software refinements.  Lee said, “There’s some things we can do with hardware, but the more consistent improvements simply come with the OTA updates we do regularly.” Other notable software improvements, requested by users, will add a voice-activated viewfinder to help users frame pictures better, as well as recently added Google Now cards – used for remember your parking spot or tracking a package.  Anybody purchasing Glass at this point will get the new hardware – with the 2GB of RAM and larger battery, however, Google will not be swapping out current user’s Glass with the new model.  Google’s Annual I/O Conference is June 25 and 26, in San Francisco, CA and because of this recent announcement it is highly unlikely there will be much Glass news released. Please hook up with us on our Google+ Page and let us know if you have Glass or will be purchasing Glass soon…as always, we would love to hear from you.