January 15, 2014 @ 8:10 PM (Penalty Entry #4)
Well, today certainly has been interesting.
Around a year ago I joined the @GoogleGlass program. It was cool, it was exciting, it was quirky and for my sponsor it was costly. Everyone has heard by now that to join the Google Glass Explorer Program (fanciest way of naming a beta program) you had to pay a hefty sum of $1500. After a year I’m here to tell you what that would have gotten you.
- Navigation support that worked about 1/16th of the time for me.
- A bluetooth device that easily gets out of sync.
- A voice recognition system that you can’t use if there is any type of sound louder than that which a gentle breeze blows.
- A sub-par bluetooth headset for making calls where people can’t hear you if there is any type of sound louder than an ant passing gas.
- A really easy way to take a photograph…. about four seconds after you intended it to be taken. The picture quality was really nice, though.
- A really easy way to take a video…. if you don’t mind your device over-heating and maybe not actually capturing the video at all. The picture quality, again, was really nice.
- A very convenient way to get text messages and respond to them.
- A very convenient way to get email and respond to it (if you are brave and in a quiet place).
- If you had some “shades” with it, one of the most expensive pair of sunglasses most people might own.
- Quick access to doing an internet search without using your hands.
Typically the term “beta” is used for something that is in its final stages before the release candidate comes along to go out into the world. It doesn’t stop, it just evolves. Today Google, prior to telling anyone in the Explorer program, decided to drop this little tidbit on the world: https://plus.google.com/+GoogleGlass/posts/9uiwXY42tvc
That was posted about three hours before receiving an email from the Google Glass Explorer team letting us know the same details, as well as a nifty book some explorers will get with pictures that were taken through Glass. The best part of the email that we received? This:
“New feature development on the Explorer Edition will stop while we work on the next version of Glass”
OK, so is my Explorer edition of Glass now like an iPhone 3? All of the quirks that it has it will always have and for $1500 all of the Explorers are able to wear their Glass in public while all of their co-workers and friends point out that Google “shut down” their product?
This beta program could have been a lot better because I genuinely liked my Google Glass and wanted to do more with it. Near the end it seems like more features and software were either removed or no longer supported (video calls, I’m looking at you). Integration with Android OS got better (phone notifications also being displayed in the prism, being able to dismiss these same messages) and near the end there was a steady flow of updates. Communication was very poor, clearly right down to the very end.
I have to admit that the way the entire experience has shaken out has been kind of baffling.
All that aside, anyone interested in owning a piece of technology where new feature development isn’t happening any more? It will be a gift to you if you want to pay shipping and handling (which works out, by my calculations, to be about $600.00).
Hmph.
-Will
