Three weeks ago, Computerworld's Matt Lake shelled out $1500 for the Explorer edition of Google Glass. Now he wants his money back.
To be fair, Lake lists ten pros and cons of owning Google Glass, starting with eye contact. On the plus side, users can glance to the top right and get an augmented, connected experience. On the negative side, the rest of the world becomes out of focus when accessing this display. You can't make eye contact when looking at the content, thus the other party may think the user could be lying. Plus users also look somewhat cross-eyed when accessing the display.
Moving on to voice recognition, Lake says that Glass is not a good listener. In fact, the device's voice recognition "can be about as responsive as your average 6-year-old after soda and cupcakes." He also claims that the battery installed in Glass will drain like a bathtub when the wearer actually uses the device's full capabilities.
"If you're wearing a $1,500 piece of equipment laden with cool features, you want to get your money's worth," Lake writes. "You listen to music, record video, take photographs, and after a short time, you feel a burning sensation in your right temple. Like all computers without fans, Google Glass runs warm. And in as little as an hour, your battery needs a recharge."
Lake says that even if the wearer has a big face, a big nose or big hair, Glass is still too big, consisting of a large curved metal arc that can't be folded and tucked away in a shirt pocket. Glass is also rather obvious; you'll know the device when passing the wearer on the street. He points out that people fear surveillance, and avoid talking to Google Glass wearers because of that very reason.
Lake also points out that the pictures he took with the specs came out somewhat tilted. That's because one of his ears is lower than the other, so Glass rests on his face in a tilt at all times. To be fair, this is where photo editing software comes into play; you can fix the tilt by simply rotating the image. Naturally, we all want pictures to be perfect the moment they're taken.
The article goes on to talk about the drawbacks of using turn-by-turn directions, using the earbud, and the way Glass has been promoted up to now. "When I look at stories of how people use technology, I'm usually inspired to think of how I can use them. But looking at Glass Explorer stories just makes me feel inadequate about my daily life," he writes.
To read the full list of pros and cons, head here. The article is entertaining, but it also shows how far Google and society have to go before Glass is socially acceptable.
