Pebble vs Google Glass – Charming versus Revolutionary

Even though technology evolves fast nowadays, it doesn’t mean the road is also easy. Some of the devices we are experiencing right now are the result of several years of research, attempts and hard work. And of course, none of it would have been possible without the constant feedback received from tech enthusiasts. Each year we can’t wait to pack up our gadgets and go to Las Vegas to check out and try the latest gadgets, which by the way are pretty close to what we believed to be science fiction a few years back.

After the last couple of year’s evolution, we can say that wearable computers are definitely the trend right now. After we got to see all kind of fitness gadgets released last year, we can say that we are a lot more used to the idea of strapping a computer to our body parts (hand, head and so on). Even the smartwatches have seen a boom last year, because people are really considering them as an option right now. As for Google’s Glass, the device remains in top of the preferences when it comes to wearable gadgets and since it hasn’t been released to the mass market, our curiosity limits have reached rooftops.

Even though Glass doesn’t have any direct competition yet, we can say that the Pebble smartwatch could actually dethrone Glass from the most wanted wearable title it received by now. You could be telling yourself: But this isn’t the first, nor the only smartwatch out there. Indeed, but so far it is the best, and probably will remain so until the arrival of the iWatch. Until any other head attachable devices as Glass emerge on the market, smartwatches like Pebble could mean serious competition for Google’s device.

Competitors used together

Owning both a Pebble and a Glass could feel quite useless, since they can provide almost the same services. Besides, since the Pebble isn’t that obvious and can still do the work you would usually do on Glass when out, wearing the Glass while also wearing the Pebble is definitely useless. On the other hand, Glass is definitely stronger than the Pebble, considering its processing power and integrated sensors.

Glass’s core purpose is to offer users the possibility of no longer being absent when checking emails, messages or other things on a smartphone, as Brin said (co-founder of Google), we would have the possibility of living more our experiences instead of living around them.

The Pebble was built around the same purpose: get your notifications without checking them out. So, given these two new devices, for the first time since the smartphone appeared we could take our heads out of the small display panels we have been gazing at for years and look straightforward.

Having both devices delivering the same data (Glass and Pebble) is not a good idea at all, and instead of gaining time and attention you would have to invest more in order to pay attention to both of them at the same time. So, a solution for that would be to separate the notifications you receive on the Pebble from those received on Glass, to get rid of the curfew of receiving duplicated texts or emails. The bottom line is that you should think twice before acquiring them both and assign them separate tasks, or else the result would be more time wasted.

Glass early days

Keeping its science fiction feel, Glass is able to rewrite the way we play, work and even live and it comes as a solution for getting rid of the attention deficit we have all been experiencing with the smartphones and allow us to experience the real world in the same time we experience the virtual one.

Since Glass’s arrival in the Explorer program, people have been looking at it with cynicism and tend to reject the idea of wearing it. Considering this, people might not react that well to its mass release and signal Google that society still has a long way to go before getting used to the idea. Most of the people won’t wear it because they believe their appearance becomes questionable with a face strapped computer. Glass actually turns heads when worn and people who see it for the first time, are both fascinated and fearful.

As for the Pebble, people seem pretty used to the idea and instead of being shocked, they just ask how it works but without the desire of actually seeing it do something. They see it as a wrist smartphone and know what this means. But with Glass, things are more complicated.

Considering these reactions, we can draw the conclusion that people want to know what’s going to happen in the future but they fear to embrace it. Maybe Glass won’t pass the trust circle of beliefs and principles around which the world is spinning, but if we don’t adapt to evolution we might fall behind and from our point of view, Glass is not a step but definitely a huge leap forward.