Google Glass Strong & Weak Points – Full Review

So far, we have talked about every little thing you can do with the Glass, but few have taken a stand in telling you what you should and shouldn’t do with this device. So, we have decided to approach the matter from this perspective.

If the Glass is going to change our future remains uncertain, but in the present that certainly occupies a big part of our time. The reactions Google’s Glass is stirring now go from annoyance and fear of invading someone’s privacy to admiration and curiosity. Why? Well, because opinions differ just as our characters and while a tech enthusiast would be eager to know more about how such a device really works, regular people greet the device with fear and skepticism.

One of the people who have decided to test the limits of the Glass and do all the things you’re supposed not to do while wearing the device, just to see what happens is A. J. Jacobs from Esquire who bought the $1,500 Explorer version. After receiving the training for using the device and specific instructions regarding what no to do with the handset, he did just the opposite and put his Glass through its worst tests. Let’s check on the results he obtained.

First test: Reading

So, after a few days of getting used to the device (because regardless to what they say, it’s not that easy to use if you’re a nube), days in which he passed from admiration to frustration continuously (the perception changes when you move your head, some of the search results aren’t as accurate as one would wish) the time has arrived to see why we should respect all those instructions marked with NOT TO.

When it comes to reading big articles on the Glass, instructions say that you shouldn’t open a text bigger than a thousand words, as the device is designed to display headlines and short descriptions. But Jacobs didn’t see any harm in trying to open an entire novel on Glass’s small display. First of all, he didn’t find a version that would fit the sentences entirely on the screen, so every time he would finish the part of the line displayed, he had to turn his head right and then back to the initial position, which caused him nausea shortly. At the second attempt, he found a novel with the sentences fit for the Glass, but having the text so close to his eyes caused him headaches in less than an hour.

The bottom line of this experience is that it can be done and it feels quite amazing but it comes with some costs.

Second test: Playing poker

As you know, one of Glass’s most awesome features is the one that it can video-stream what the user is seeing in that moment. So, Jacobs’s thought was that he could use this feature to win a poker game with his friends, which he did with the help of his cousin, a true poker master. Even though they had some technical issues along the way, such as image blocking, interruptions and so on, by the end of the day Jacobs won merely $200.

When the game was over he told his friends about the test and gave them their money back, but the conclusion was that it can be done. Of course, his scheme probably worked better because he was in his own house surrounded by friends, meaning that in a foreign environment with strangers someone might have thought that he was cheating. A dangerous game to play so kids, don’t try this at home!

Third test: Can the Glass write accurately when dictating?

As Jacobs sais, once you get a hold of the device and know exactly how the voice recognition works, what kind of intonation it recognizes and so on, you can actually write an entire email by dictation (with some additional corrections, of course).

Conclusion: use it wisely. Don’t send anything before proofreading.

Fourth test: Watching media content

When it comes to watching TV or online movies, the Glass isn’t ready yet to provide an immersive experience as it can only stream Youtube videos. However, the perspective of doing your chores while watching a documentary, a movie or a video clip is pretty awesome. Think about all the boring activities such as washing the dishes, cleaning or running that could be completed with a spark of extra knowledge.

The bottom line is that this feature isn’t as advanced as it should be and this area remains unexplored for now. An interesting prospect, nevertheless.

Fifth test: Is the Glass distracting?

Many think that the Glass device can enhance our ADHD more than any current device and despite Google’s advertising according to which the Glass can make you pay more attention to things around you, we have to agree that if used continuously it can get you to be more distracted than ever.

However, Jacobs found an interesting way of using the Glass and programmed it to send him temporary messages with reminders of what he should pay more attention to. Quite the twist we might say.

The conclusion of this test is that anything done obsessively can cause a certain level of damage, including the Glass. However, if used consciously the Glass can do more good than harm.

Final test: Can you get a date while wearing the Glass?

The reactions are just as similar when wearing the Glass to a bar, as they are in every day life. Some of the people wanted to try them on, other looked at the user suspiciously while some ignored them completely.

Another interesting fact we’ve come to realize with Jacobs’s experiment is that while men wearing the Glass look like douchebags, women wearing it seem more appealing.

As a first test, this went well but we consider that when the world will be prepared to embrace this concept, the results would be more spectacular.

Conclusions

It is pretty hard to say if the Glass will be a huge success or just another attempt at recognition. If people will loosen their prejudgments about technology and evolution, then such a device will be a success. And if it’s not the Glass, the device that would come to succeed it will certainly win people’s hearts. It is obvious people want such a device in their lives, but don’t have the basis and the precedent of this technology and don’t know what to make of it.

So, at the rate technology evolves nowadays we can only hope for it to evolve for us and not against us.