Project Glass: a mere concept or future product?

Project Glass
Google has been working on a project for a few years, and just recently revealed the concept publicly. According to a Wired article, Project Glass is “an augmented reality system that will give users the full range of activities performed with a Smartphone – without a Smartphone.” The video below showcases a man going through his daily life, and how these special glasses would affect different aspects of it.

Watch the video, produced by Google, to gain an understanding of Project Glass before reading the analyses below.

Feedback
Project Glass is Google (x)’s, a department dedicated to long-term projects, second largest project ever. Once the project was publicly introduced, Google (x) set up a Google+ page to generate consumer feedback as they continue developing Project Glass. This public introduction definitely created some buzz in the digital world.


Wired

Wired, a monthly magazine and online news source, focuses on how innovative ideas are changing the world, according to its press center. After reading a Wired article on the topic, it’s apparent the online news source has some doubts about Project Glass.

According to the article, Wired believes these special glasses might be too invasive because users can shoot videos undetected and their heavy emphasis on location-basedservices (LBS). Wired’s also worried that teenagers will avoid face-to-face communication even more with these special glasses. Altogether Wired sees Project Glass as more of a concept, skeptical of the special glasses as an actual product. I agree.

Appearance and Comfort

Unless someone already wears glasses 24/7, the appearance and comfort of Project Glass glasses could be its largest downfalls. Would anyone want to wear glasses if they didn’t have to? I know I definitely wouldn’t. Google (x) is working on developing an attachment for users who already wear glasses daily. If I wore glasses daily then of course I’d use the Project Glass attachment.

 

Tangibility

With no handheld device, like a Smartphone, it seems like you’d be limited in your capabilities. Think of all the apps and games users have on their Smartphones. Would Project Glass glasses have those kinds of capabilities, too? What happens if you’re not wearing them, and they ring because someone’s calling you? Imagine putting on a pair of glasses to answer your phone! This leads me to believe that most special glasses owners would still own a Smartphone, too. As a developer, wouldn’t you want your product to stand alone and not be a complementary item?


Constant Connection
Think of all those statistics on how many times a day the average user checks his/her phone. With these special glasses, you’d be constantly connected because icons, notifications and alerts would be in your field of vision.

 

Functionality

One of the advantages of Project Glass glasses is ease of use. The glasses are right in front of you and are voice activated, so you can do tasks much quicker than with a Smartphone. I have a Blackberry, which might be my problem, but it freezes at least once daily. I don’t know about other Smartphones, but I’m assuming at one point or another all of them run slowly. What’s the advantage of these special glasses if they run slowly? Especially when a product first comes out there are usually kinks to work out.


Concept or Potential Product?
Although, along with Wired, I have my doubts about Project Glass glasses as an actual product, everyone could be wearing them someday. You never know! Google is not alone in conceptualizing seemingly far-fetched ideas. Corning Incorporated produced two videos, “ADay Made of Glass. . . Made Possible by Corning” and “A Day Made of Glass 2: SameDay. Expanded Corning Vision,” which are both mind-blowing.

 

Do you think this emerging technology will become more than a concept?