Google Glass is the best thing after sliced bread? [MUO Дебаты]

What do you get when you cross a head screen and glasses? Google Glasses of course!

There are many people who are very excited about Google Glasses. We have many such people right here at , like Danny, who recently wrote our free Google Glasses and giveaways. in December by Dave Parrack, who wrote about them in a Tech News Digest update, as well as Dave’s list of the top 10 Google Glass videos Top 10 Google Glass videos made so far online.

You don’t have to look around for rumors about this and the upcoming next generation mobile product. The question is, is it all hype? Or are Google Glasses the next big thing next to sliced bread and those little tabs at the end of your shoelaces? Well, we’ve decided to bring two of our best contributors together in a discussion about whether Google Glasses is truly the next huge technology that will break down barriers and inspire innovation. On the one hand, we have Matt Hughes, who is ready to start wearing a pair of Google glasses today, and on the other hand, we have Justin Pot, who feels that perhaps there is too much hype going on around this new product.

Join us as Justin and Matt meet in a debate about whether Google Glass will be the next big thing to change the world of technology and mobile apps.

Matt Hughes — I’ll be first in line for Google Glass

Thirty seconds is not a huge amount of time. In thirty seconds you can listen opus Napalm of Death You suffer” 22.8 times. Roger Bannister ran the 1/8 mile in thirty seconds. Mal Mening’s political career lasted less than thirty seconds. And in thirty seconds, I was convinced that the future of computers is Google Glass.

Strong words? May be. Since Google Glass was announced last year, it has drawn a lot of skepticism and ridicule, and the epithet «glass hole» has been coined to describe users of Mountain View’s latest augmented reality experiment. It also drew a lot of admiration as Time magazine named it one of the best inventions of 2012.

I was lucky enough to try Google Glass recently. In just thirty seconds, I got a review that this is an elusive (and expensive) product. It took me thirty seconds to be overwhelmed with what he can do and what he represents for the future of consumer technology.

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Using Google Glass is a very sensory experience; you put him on the bridge of your nose and walk away, giving him commands as if you were Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the Enterprise. A small screen (smaller than a postage stamp) is conveniently placed within your line of sight, showing directions, translations and the like. It is important to emphasize that this does not seem intrusive. Although it is noticeable there, it does not prevent you from perceiving the world around you.

Google is pretty good at speech recognition and human language processing, and Google Glass is proof of that. Want to know where the nearest McDonald’s is? Just ask. Are you wondering how old Barack Obama is? It will tell you. Met a nice girl but she doesn’t speak your language? The glass covered you there.

I am usually quite reserved to jump on any footrests. Throughout the history of consumer technology, there have been far too many products that have been overhyped and ended up being huge disappointments. Anyone remember the Blackberry Storm? And yet, for Google Glass, I leave my conservatism at the door. I’m ready to get excited for this as Google brings information consumption right to the eyeball. After the iPad and smartphones, this looks like a logical step forward. I can’t wait for it to get a general release, and when it does, I’m pretty sure I’ll be first in line for it.

Justin Pot — Google Glass doesn’t really solve anything

January 9, 2007 is the day Steve Jobs unveiled the device that would redefine the mobile market: the iPhone. Some argue that the release of Google Glass to the public will be like this.

I’m not sure.

The iPhone was not a completely new invention: it was an improvement that used thoughtful design to make existing technology more useful. It can be argued that the iPhone owes a lot to the device released earlier, on March 10, 1997.

If you don’t recognize this date, you can be excused because the device it launched today is a footnote: Palm Pilot. It was the forerunner of the modern smartphone, offering everything from a to-do list to a calendar to simple games.

palm pilot

But Palm never caught on. Simply put, it did not solve any problems — even if the owners tried to invent them. They refined the device by inventing the problems it was the answer to. It was funny, but most users admit that they don’t actually use their Palm very much.

Ultimately, Palm missed out on what makes portable devices most useful: widespread wireless Internet access. The iPhone had broad appeal, not because everything it did was brand new, but because it turned previously geeky technology into something broadly useful—thanks in part to expanding 3G networks.

Perhaps Glass will be the moment of the iPhone, a consumer technology that will quickly change everyone upon release. Perhaps people will overcome the reported dizziness and headaches. Maybe video chats where you see the other person’s point of view instead of their face won’t be awkward. And maybe people would be fine with wearing glasses, even Star Trek’s Borg would find them bulky.

Maybe this technology is ready to change everything right now. Or maybe, just maybe, another device will later do it.

Early glass enthusiasts aren’t on the cusp of the next big thing like iPhone users were in 2007 — they’ll be more like early Palm Pilot users playing with cool technology that doesn’t solve any problems yet. (even if they pretend to do so).

Matt Hughes — Bollocks. Nothing like Google Glass has ever been made

The usual refrain about Google Glass is that it’s not awesome. Nothing new. Clarification.

Nonsense.

Nothing like Google Glass has ever been made. The tech industry has never even come close to what Google is doing here. In terms of form factor and user experience, nothing has ever come close.

Let me put it this way. This is the first time there is a product on the market where you can direct traffic directions right into the eye. And in pretty unobtrusive packaging too. Nothing has ever come close to this.

Another common refrain about Google Glass is that it doesn’t solve the problem. Well, the iPhone didn’t solve anything when it came out. Neither made the Apple II. Neither made the iPad. These were the platforms that developers and consumers used to solve their problems. In this regard, it is up to Google to make it a product that can be adapted to meet the needs of its customers.

using-Tabet

With a huge amount of developer participation and consumer field testing (more than before the official release of the iPhone), it’s safe to say they take this responsibility seriously.

I like the iPhone comparison though. We all remember 2007. We all remember when it came out and people immediately rushed to the nearest fruit shop to get their hands on the most coveted equipment of the moment. Some even expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that they did not get their hands on an iPhone with a microphone-themed theft.

Google Glass has such mass appeal as the devices target RRP on Ebay and the waiting list is longer than a Peter Jackson movie.

Now we all know how the iPhone turned out. And let’s be honest, you can usually predict the success of a technology product from the rumors leading up to its release. Google Glass is a highly coveted product with a long wait, and those who have used it are almost equally praised by its accolades. Remind you of something?

Justin Pot — Nothing new in Google Glass

I think you missed my point. I’m not saying that glass is nothing new, it’s just sophistication. I say that new items are rarely removed quickly. Refinements are made.

In my comparison, Glass is not an iPhone, but a Palm Pilot. The iPhone has brought portable computing to a massive extent, but it has done so by refining the ideas and technologies that came before it. Like Palm, glass won’t be an immediate success. This is an early example of a technology that catches on after a few years.

Buying early is for suckers and most consumers know this. Hardware people ignore this fact because they like to try new things — they are the ones who are so desperate to try Glass. But enthusiasts are not mainstream.