Google Glass. The words seem to elicit instant opinions, both informed and otherwise, wanted or not.
I put my idea in the hat of #ifihadglass and was selected (my plan: build a real time patient statistics interface for nurses). On June 15th, myself and my seven year old Alli jumped in the car and drove over to Mountain View to pick up my pair of Glass.
If only stores had customer experiences like this
I want to touch briefly on the pick up. The Guides were wonderful, all very enthusiastic, and it was a very laid back experience. It was busy with other explorers picking up their Glass as well, but no one appeared rushed. Alli got a nice tour of the campus (she’d never been), and it was all very smooth. Below, the first snap from Glass of Alli hanging out.
Great customer experiences seem like they’re in short supply. Maybe I’m going to the wrong places these days, but this was just wonderful.
I made the battery angry
Funny story: I killed the battery pretty much the moment we left campus. Over the first three days, I killed the battery seven times. My initial reaction to this was “Ah, the battery is small and it’s life just isn’t great.” All the Glass explorers I spoke with at I/O this year said similar things; you have to carry a battery pack for it otherwise you’ll never make it through the day.
I don’t think this is the case for average usage.
The reason I kept killing the battery over the first three days was because I was out and about and everyone wanted to try Glass. When Glass is active and the screen is running and it’s pulling data, yep, you’ll burn that battery. Driving navigation? Ya, that’ll hurt a lot. Developing? Yep killed it twice Thursday doing this. These are things that’ll take the battery for a rough ride.
All those things above are really outliers; they’re not the average use case. When I’m just wearing Glass, going about my daily activities, the battery holds up well. I can get 8-10 hours out the unit before I need to find some power. I share a few photos, take a video or two, see notifications.
I’m not saying there aren’t cases where battery life is an issue. Real time applications like my patient stats, some of the other more interact with what I’m doing right now applications are going to make Glass battery life take a hit. Driving navigation is the prime example (and the Glass guides warned of this).
Battery life will continue to improve. But at this time, I’m not specifically carrying a battery pack for it (though I always carry my custom little MintyBoost circuit).
The “reaction”
One of things I’ve most enjoyed about Glass so far is how giddy it makes people. I’ve let 34 people try them on and only one person didn’t like them.
The smiles are almost instantaneous and people take to them incredibly quickly with very little instruction. They search for things they like and questions they have, and are amazed by the quickness of the response and answer. They instantly take pictures and just giggle with delight. It’s that kind of experience.
On day two, I took it over to the farm house and asked my 90 year old grandfather Les to try them out. This is a photograph through Glass right after he handed them back to me. That smile and his reaction are what I see in a lot of people. When I asked him what he thought, he said “Oh, I don’t know anything about that stuff…but that’s amazing (laughter).”
The overblown privacy debate
The media, along with certain government folks, seem really hell bent on this whole Glass privacy issue. I thought it was funny before I had Glass and I think it’s even more funny now.
So, here’s my method for putting down fears. I ask them to try them on. Of the 34 people who have tried on my pair of Glass, six have expressed privacy concerns (one angrily I might add). Of those six, all had seen “coverage” and were for the lack of a better term, scared. Five of the six, having taken them for a spin, pretty much instantly let go of their bias.
A women in her early 40’s, whom had voiced strong concerns before she tried them on, remarked after using them that “they [news media] must have never used them, it’s pretty obvious when they’re on.” She then asked when she could buy a pair.
The sixth, a gentleman in his early 50’s, angry at Glass and apparently me, deemed them “a worthless piece of shit” and stated that “the government will ban them [Glass] and throw people like you in jail.” Honestly, I didn’t try to convince him otherwise; there are some battles you’re not going to win.
Two weeks, two cents
For a supposed beta product, it’s extremely well polished. Yes, it has issues (I’ve had a software crash or two in normal usage), but those will be ironed out. I find it comfortable to wear and have been wearing them daily since I’ve picked them up. Glass just sort of fades away after you wear it for a while; you get a notification, you check it and respond if necessary, and then it’s off again. I find myself not reaching for my phone to check email or other updates.
For a piece of technology, it actually seems to make me less dependent on the technology rat race. You know if it hits Glass, that notification was meant for you and you can act on it. I like the methodology.
Forward!
Obviously, I’m writing software for it. :-) I wrote a little Github commit monitor hook that piggy backs on top of some MQTT service hooks (see https://github.com/justinribeiro/Github2Glass) and I have a Vagrant and Puppet tweaked version of the Mirror Start Project to make it easier to get up and running (https://github.com/justinribeiro/mirror-quickstart-php).
I’m very much still getting the hang of it. What works well, what doesn’t work, what the overall user experience is like. I’m trying the media streaming, I’m taking them into some extreme situations next week (let’s hope I don’t break them…but if I do, it’s for science), and overall just having a lot fun with them.
Now, back to exploring.