Google Glass Specs Hit the Web

Nerval's Lobster writes "Google has issued the specifications for its spectacles. The search-engine giant's Google Glass, an augmented-reality headset that allows wearers to view information on a tiny screen embedded in one of the lenses, features a camera capable of snapping 5-megapixel photos and 720p video. That aforementioned screen, in the words of Google's just-released specs sheet, "is the equivalent of a 25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away." Google Glass is compatible with any Bluetooth-capable phone. Its MyGlass app, which enables SMS messaging and GPS, requires a companion device running Android 4.0.3 (the "Ice Cream Sandwich" build) or higher. Google claims the battery will provide a "full day of typical use," although the company warned in the specs sheet that certain functions—most notably video recording and Hangouts—could drain the battery faster. Despite those neat features, Google Glass also raises some thorny questions about surveillance culture, and whether people really want whole crowds recording every moment of our collective lives. But those are the sort of conundrums that will only become more clear when Google Glass is actually released sometime later this year."

Comments

so what am i supposed to do with them again?

[alen]

i still can't figure out the point in spending $1500 on a pair of glasses when i don't even wear glasses

Re:so what am i supposed to do with them again?

[prelelat]

I can think of a crap ton to do with these things.

Facial recognition comparing people with facebook: Can't remeber a persons name? have glass go through your contacts and match up faces.
Overlay of items at a grocery store: Setup your grocery list before you leave home, your local store now has everything mapped and your glasses will optimise your route in the store and show you where each item is on the shelf.
Guided tour: Going on a vacation and want a tour of the town? We have an app for that! visual recognition of landmarks(or gps locations) and you will get videos and audio on historic events and buildings as you walk through the area.
Education: learning anatomy has never been easier as you look at the subject and glass tells you where each part of the body is.
Google Hangout/Skype: Take a video call or hangout with your friends while your on the go.(can't see you but hey it's a cool idea especially for conferencing in)
Record videos: Make home movies while your out
Play music and video
Play games that require interaction: kind of like geocaching but with monsters along the way.

I don't know if you could do all of this with the current version the area is pretty small that you see. That would affect things like overlays. I think there's lots you could get out of it though and many more crazy ideas people could use. Some of it your smart phone can do and maybe do better, others not so much. I like the idea of having facial recognition so that it pops up the name of someone you know when you see them out on the street. That would be cool. my phone already can do facial recognition for security so that doesn't seem impossible. I won't be getting one when it comes out and I may never will but there's a boat load of things you can do with it.

Re:so what am i supposed to do with them again?

[ElectricTurtle]

It's such hypocritical bullshit to be worried about being recorded when right now anybody could be recording everything with their phones, surreptitiously or otherwise. Phones multitask now so it's possible for them to record things in the background even if the person holding them looks like they're playing LatestShinyDistractionMania. So that battle is long over. If people want to wank to whatever other people look like in public, there's been an analogue hole for that for years. Before all the modern convenience, it used to be they just... remembered what those other people looked like. Shocking, I know. All this hysteria rings rather false.

Re:The display is not HD.

[tysonedwards]

Unfortunately, the summary does allude to being a HD screen by the passage "is the equivalent of a 25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away."

Re:Augmented reality.

[gsgriffin]

The funny part is that they the 25" display they say is equivalent to "high-definition". What a stroke of marketing brilliance. At that size and distance, you could be running QVGA, and it will look like high-definition for most of us.

Of course, if they told us it would look like a 13" VGA CRT display at 4 feet away, most would laugh. Good twist on the stats, Google!

Re:Augmented reality.

[nametaken]

To be fair, it's obviously not even close to the augmented reality demos we're all used to, so it doesn't have to be much more.

I mean, how amazing does the display have to be to show a small little box that says, "Your friend is calling."

If it were supposed to change my movie watching world, or overlay amazon prices on everything in the pantry as you look up and down, it'd have to be doing retina projection or cover your whole face. Nobody was going to bring that to market for $1500.

So yeah, it's to augmented reality what the VirtualBoy was to virtual reality.

Re:The display is not HD.

[Jane Q. Public]

"Read the UI guidelines. The display resolution is 640x360."

Very good point. That is why:

"... is the equivalent of a 25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away."

is a totally bullshit "specification". It means virtually nothing. 640 x 360 is crappy resolution, no matter how you try to spin it.