“Okay Glass, Start the Action” – The Magic of Google Glass

Imagine you’re travelling in a country whose language you don’t speak. You look up at a sign board and wished if someone could help. For your surprise Google can now help you translate to your home language, even without a data plan! You could travel internationally and never be lost or stay hungry as you can talk to your Google Glass and find the best places around.

Google Glass is not only a fancy name but can look incredible if you have a wallet that could support some branded eyewear accessories. The Glass is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display that is being developed by Google, as the name suggests, in the project Glass. It is essentially a smart phone that you can wear as spectacles. The release of the Glass is scheduled for early next year, though Indians interested in grabbing the high tech device will have to wait longer.

Let’s look at some interesting facts about the Google Glass:

Tiny(but powerful) hardware – The Glass is packed with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, speakers, a camera, GPS, microphone, a touchpad, and possibly a gyroscope that detects head tilts. The main piece has a tiny screen which is the size of your finger.

Talk to your Glass – Google Glass has voice input, the built in microphone along with Google now connects you directly to the search engine. All you have to say is “Okay Glass” and followed by your command or question. Tilting your head also does the magic.

Capture the moment – All you have to say is “Take a photo” and your view at the moment is captured. You can do the same with videos, which could be extreme sports videos or real-life tutorials.

Call or text always – The powerful voice input feature also allows you to dictate text messages, attach videos and pictures, sending it through your mobile data connection, without having to remove your phone from your pocket. You can also use Google hangout for a group conference without being confined to a place.

Find your way back easily – It’s built with a GPS chip, which allows you to navigate with the help of Google maps. You don’t need to stop and look at your smart phone for directions, just look at your view and know the right way, even while you are driving!

Understand sign boards – Talk to your Google glass and it can help you find the best restaurants, convert the currency rate, get to know the metric system and much more. A dictionary of about 10,000 words in each chosen language is stored locally on the device (hence does not require a data plan here), so you can always blend with the locals.

Recognize a friend – Facial recognition is one of the exciting features of the Glass. Making use of this feature, it can go through your social networking list of friends and display the names of ones who are present in the same vicinity.

Why you should or shouldn’t be fascinated by the Google Glass?

Apart from how your gadget looks the other important factor is the price. Originally priced at $1,500(Rs. 91650 plus extras by the time it opens in the Indian market), the Google glass seems expensive. Although apple has proved that people are ready to pay inflated price for an equipment if it’s got the style.

With the price arguably very high, would you be happy with a camera that offers 5mp (For photos) and 720p (For videos)?

Google developers also paid attention to the fashion and style of their product. The Glass comes in 5 different colours- Shale, Tangerine, Charcoal, Cotton and Sky. They are also taking help from eyewear companies to get a great make-over.

One big question from those who already wear prescription glasses. Can the Glass be used by those who wear traditional glasses? Yes, developers have ensured that the Glass can incorporate prescription lenses to adjust to the user’s needs.

It has a 12GB usable memory, which is also synced with Google cloud storage. Battery typically lasts for one day. Moreover apps require Android 4.0.3(Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher.

How Google Glass can help in the future?

Medical Science: Using the Google Glass, doctors can examine their patients in a much easier way. Consider a surgery where a doctor is required to continuously move his head from one side to another in order to monitor the patient’s vital signs. With the glass, there will not be any such requirement as he/she can see everything right in front of his eyes.

Geographical Studies: For many channels like National Geographic and Discovery, the Glass could be very effective. So many views and features could be captured in different angles, for which dependence on the rest of the crew was required earlier. With the help of the wearable Glass, explorers can give their own point of view.

Defence: Google glass can be used for training purposes that can show how the trainer undertook any particular mission. Specialized apps can be developed to cater to specific activities.

Google Glass may seem like one of those new gadgets that creates a buzz in the market for a while until another one takes over. But it can be used effectively in various walks of life to make way for a bright future that is technologically advanced, thereby exploring untapped avenues.

Author: Priyanka Chaugule