Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Should I Get Google Glass?
lunatick writes "I put in my application for Google Glass as a joke. I never figured I would be selected. Well in less than one week I got my invite to buy Google Glass. My main hold back is the $1500 price tag for a device that just seems to be a camera and navigation aid. Does anyone in the /. community have Google Glass and can they give some advice to the rest of us considering it?"
You shouldn't try to find $1500 worth of value in the current product. If there was, they'd be selling it to everyone.
Take a look at a list of apps and see if this is a technology you'd find fascinating, and decide based on whether you have the time and resources to invest into exploring it.
Glass today is basically like Internet access in 1994. Slow, expensive, flawed and of no practical value -- but interesting and fun for those with the time and interest to tinker with it.
Already did that with a friend, nothing happened except for a few people that were curious about it and he let them try it on, most thought it was cool and wondered if they could use it for GPS on the motorcycle while they ride.
Bikers are actually decent people and not complete scumbags like you seem to believe they are.
Stop watching "sons of anarchy" it's not reality.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Unless you're rich and $1500 is a piddling amount of moola...
I also got an invite to order Google Glass and politely declined. $1500 is too much for a product that isn't fully realized. Yet, Google Glass holds interest to me because it holds a possibility of improving the lives of deaf folks like me... REAL TIME CAPTIONING, right in front of our eyes. That would completely change LIVES. (Yes, I recognize that similar technology on Youtube produces lamentable results.) What disappoints me is that Google doesn't seem to recognize it, or deems it an inadequate market to follow. You really think it wouldn't be cool to more or less create a version of the Babelfish from Hitchhiker's Guide? Or recognize that if you erased communication difficulties, you'd be one step closer to a civilized world where we can exchange ideas WITHOUT throwing poo?
Glass uses bone conduction for sound (which wouldn't work for a person with truly profound nerve deafness, like myself), and has stated that they do not recommend the Glass for deaf users. While it's not the same as "get to the back of the bus", it's still disappointing to be marginalized in such a way. But I'll remain hopeful that one day, Google recognizes what they could do for folks like me, and enable us to communicate with "norms" without ya'all looking like fools :)
Pretty soon there will be a $399 version that's 10x better than the first generation.
True, but if you're an app developer that's actually a sensible reason to drop the dough now and get familiar with the platform so you're ready when it becomes viable for pragmatist adopters. In my experience $500/seat is an important threshold when selling to pragmatist adopters.
The fact that the guy is even asking this question shows that he's got the money, but it's enough dough that he has to consider the purchase carefully. If there were an existing application that justified the purchase as a user he'd probably know about it, so I'd guess that the only practical reason to buy the thing would be to develop a new application. If you had an idea for a new app or even had confidence you could come up with such an idea, now would be a good time to get a jump on the competition.
If the guy isn't a serious developer, then what he ought to do is compare the novelty value of owning a Google Glass with other amusing ways he could spend $1500. That would pay for round trip airfare to Hawaii; a half dozen prime seat at Broadway shows; or a rather memorable night in a Nevada brothel.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.