This article originally appeared in Rethink's Faultline
Google’s Eric Schmidt has confirmed what we expected all along, telling the Wall Street Journal that Google Glass is being “made ready for users” in the near future. This is good news for consumers looking to use the augmented reality functions of the unit, which can display contextual and relevant information in front of a user’s vision.
“We ended the Explorer program and the press conflated this into us canceling the whole project, which isn’t true. Google is about taking risks and there’s nothing about adjusting Glass that suggests we’re ending it. It remains a big and very fundamental platform for Google,” he said.
Back in January, the world learned that Google was planning on ending the Explorer for the Google Glass – effectively killing developer support for the current version of the controversial eyewear. The development team was also moved out from the Google X labs and under the leadership of Nest’s Tony Fadell.
The “graduation” as Google put it, saw the device removed from stores after being on sale since April 2013. The $1,500 device likely drew much of its bad press from the fact that many reviewers and press figures treated it like a finished product and not the development kit that it really was.
Due to its high-price, and initial lack of convincing usability, the device featured prominently in headlines – with outlets gleefully reporting the latest Glass-camera inspired bar fight and mugging. The “Glassholes” were even targeted by apps designed to boot them off WiFi networks.
With the new focus, it seems likely that we’ll be shortly seeing a revamped version of Glass – most likely with improved innards. Reports from December pointed to Intel hardware, which would see the platform jump from TI’s dual-core OMAP 4430 SoC, alongside its 2GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. An upgraded screen projection system seems likely too, and it wouldn’t surprise us if a 1080p video camera appeared too.
Schmidt added that criticizing Glass at this stage “is like saying the self-driving car is a disappointment because it’s not driving me around now. These things take time.”