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Google Glass Hands-On: Brimming With Potential, Dangerous While Driving
Sean Hollister at The Verge was recently outfitted with Google Glass, and he provides a report on some basic usage. There's a learning curve — the device relies heavily on what information you push from your phone, so if you haven't thought through every use-case, you'll find yourself reaching for your phone fairly often. Hollister took Glass on the road for use as a kind of heads-up display while driving, and he says it felt awesome, but dangerous. "You have to look directly at what you're photographing, so you won't be getting any safe photographs unless they're photos of the road. More importantly, Glass' ability to look up important information on the go is extremely thin right now. ... While I loved having turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps navigation floating in my peripheral vision, the display wasn't bright enough for me to see those directions while looking out the windshield of my car. I had to glance up towards the car's ceiling, or place a hand behind the cube to see where I was going. ... When another person called, I was able to pick up easily enough by tapping Glass at my temple, but the bone-conducting speaker wasn't loud enough to hear over the noise of the car. I had to enunciate extremely clearly and loudly for Glass to interpret my voice searches correctly." Hollister says Glass has a lot of potential — the things that don't work well are at least close. CNET's Scott Stein also provided a detailed perspective on how Glass works for somebody who already wears glasses: "I can see the screen with some twiddling. Glass can end up tipping to the side, and I need to prop it up with my fingers, since the nose piece isn't seated on my nose any longer."
he says it felt awesome, but dangerous.
You mean a device that distracts you from driving can be dangerous?
Who would have imagined?
How is having something that is projected into your field of vision legal for use while driving? I realize there are cars that project your speed onto the windshield but that is the projection of a 1in high font of 1-2 digits at the bottom of the windshield, and it doesn't move when you move your head...
I'm especially concerned when the author states he has to put his hand up to block the road to see what's on the Google glass's screen..
White Men Wearing Google Glass
Threaten to punch people wearing google glass?
Those are always hilarious.
being tested in a lab somewhere
Distracted driving is stupid and against the law even if there is no law against the specific means of distraction.
This is brand new tech, everyone who has it still has a beta version of the end product if my memory serves me right. of course its not perfect yet. but the concept is amazing (negating the creepy factor) and im sure after a generation or 2 all the kinks i keep reading about will be ironed out. Most of the kinks seem to me people simply using the devices in ways that google may not have anticipated, or people want them to do more then they can.
its still too early to tell, but it does look promising
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
If you lean over and shout into the google glass "GOOGLE, IMAGE SEARCH DIARRHEA, I'M FEELING LUCKY" while he's driving.
If somebody hits me wearing this stupid gadget while driving, I'll be sure it is permanently implanted in that persons eye and face.
"I can see the screen with some twiddling. Glass can end up tipping to the side, and I need to prop it up with my fingers, since the nose piece isn't seated on my nose any longer."
So google has created an incredibly geeky device that only nerds are likely to feel comfortable with at first... and it doesn't work well for people who wear glasses. I'm sure this will turn out great.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I wonder why instead of making the "screen" only that small area at the top right of your vision, they don't make traditional-looking glasses with an entire field-of-view screen in 3D.
> so you wonâ(TM)t be getting any safe photographs unless theyâ(TM)re photos of the road
Why do I fear that this will, in fact, be the main thing that comes out of people buying google glass. Suddenly, youtube is awash in commentators about the morning commute. "As you probably remember from last weeks
videos, this intersection is one of the worst in the area. I would avoid it if there was any reasonable way around, but that really is why traffic is so bad here isn't it"
"Here we go again, same guy who cut me off last wednsday, if you remember - that is the day I was running a little late for work and really got caught in it...."
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
How about with bicycles, and with tablesaws? Report back to us on how that goes.
I had a go at Google Glass a few days ago (courtesy of a friend with connections), and I had a rather unexpected problem with them. The display is set on the right side of the frame and can't be moved. I'm extremely left-eye dominant, to the the point where reading with my right eye alone is next to impossible. I can make out the scenery, but the center of my vision in that eye has the acuity of peripheral vision, and I can't parse complex shapes (ie text) with that eye alone. I hate to claim "I have a medical condition", but I do, and it's called amblyopia. Until Google makes the display switchable to the left side, this is a show-stopper for me.
I can certainly see that as the kind of thing that will show up in version 2 or 3, but they would be a waste of money for me at this point.
Brightness.
I found it very interesting that he found the display to dim to see anything when looking out of the windshield.
No preview has mentioned this up to now, and I think thats an interesting issue. If you cannot even see the turn by turn display of google maps in daylight, how will the other usability be?
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
'nuff said?