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Why I'm Sending Back Google Glass

Posted by Unknown on from the you're-not-cool-enough dept.

Lucas123 (935744) writes "After using Google Glass for several weeks, Computerworld columnist Matt Lake had plenty of reasons to explain why he returned them, not the least of which was that they made him cross-eyed and avoid eye contact. Google Glass batteries also drain like a bath tub when using either audio or video apps and they run warm. And, as cool as being able to take videos and photos with the glasses may be, those shots are always at an angle. Of course, being able to do turn-by-turn directions is cool, but not something you can do without your smart phone's cellular data or a mobile hotspot. The list of reasons goes on... Bottom line, if Google Glass is in the vanguard of a future class of wearable computers, the future isn't the present."

7 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. Pretty obvious by Carrot007 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I do want them but I am holding out until they are a little more powerful.

    Anyone who expects them to be anything the than a preview of what is yet to come is an idiot.

    But please feel free to clutter up the world with more pointless articles.

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    +----------------- | What is the question!
    1. Re:Pretty obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Hard to have eye contact during a conversation if you're looking at a screen instead of the person you're talking to? No shit. Doesn't have anything to do with Glass.

      Of course that has something to do with glass... That's the fundamental operating model of Glass. It indicates that the fundamental interaction model for the product is flawed completely and utterly.

    2. Re: Pretty obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is interesting to see this confusion.
      Somehow Apple managed to get Retina trademarked in the context of displays.
      Meanwhile we have a typical example here where the trademark got confused with the established term for another type of displays.
      That trademark should never have been accepted and will lead to legal disputes when someone tries to bring a retinal display to the market.

    3. Re: Pretty obvious by narcc · · Score: 1, Insightful

      FFS, please do send it back, or give it to someone who WILL DO SOMETHING USEFUL WITH IT.

      Has this happened yet? Has anyone done something useful with it?

      Is such a thing even possible?

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      Required reading for internet skeptics
  2. Solution without a problem, for now... by milgram · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While I still consider Glass to be a solution without of problem, unless people use and find problems with them, innovation will not occur. There is a process of failing that precedes success. I understood when I bought Glass there would be issues. I wear them to find these issues and attempt to improve them. That is why I love to program. I like to make things better.

    I read the complaints on the Explorer board, and I am shocked that people expected a perfect product. This is meant to be beta testing. Google has been very clear about this.

    If you don’t wish to seek innovation, and you are afraid of things not going perfectly, send them back. You are probably not the type of person who seeks to improve the world around them.

    1. Re:Solution without a problem, for now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I still wear Glass for special occasions or if we dress up to go out, Nothing screams rich like wearing a $1500 toy on your head, It's the same as wearing a Rolex only you get more nods from the other rich guys.

      And this is the reason the term "glasshole" was coined.

  3. Not pointless at all. by westlake · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But please feel free to clutter up the world with more pointless articles.

    The article sums up two fundamental problems for Google Glass:

    It's called glassing out. You look cross-eyed. People can't make eye contact with you, and they read things into your lack of eye contact.

    I had surgery to gain control over a "wandering" eye when it became obvious how much my inability to maintain eye contact was costing me both at home and at work.

    People fear surveillance. They don't want a recording device waved in front of them. And that's how many people see Google Glass. People avoid talking to you when you wear them.

    No amount of frames or shades conceals the glowing prism at the front that brands you a Glass-exploring neo-cyborg.

    Loss of eye contact makes it difficult to build trust --- and the ever-present "in-your-face" camera only makes things worse.