Is Google Glass more iPhone compatible after X6 software update?
Walking into the Google Binocular building in Venice Beach CA to plop down $1600 a few weeks back I knew going in that Glass wasn’t going to work 100% with my iPhone 4S, but I was ok with that. Why was I ok? Innovation. I’ve been a trailblazer, an early adopter, someone who takes technological challenges head on. With that said I knew that Glass would be very rough at first, that they would iterate, redesign and just “play” until they get it right. So is Google Glass more iPhone compatible after the X6 software update? I’ll answer that question and more.
Weekly Explorer Hangouts
Google has held weekly hangouts with us Explorers to find out what our concerns are, what annoys us and what we’d love to see changed. I know the second I post this Google already has some of my concerns cooking in the oven and once they are done, some of them will be pushed out in their monthly updates. Currently we’re up to XE6, to give you some idea of what has gone on:
XE5 brought us the following: Change to sync policy: require power + WiFi for background uploads, Crash reporting, Incoming G+ notifications (direct shares, comments, +mentions), including ability to comment and +1, Incoming Hangout notifications, Transcription of queries & messages is now wicked-fast, Long-press to search from anywhere in the UI (no longer just from off), International number dialing + SMS, Hop animation on disallowed swipes in the UI, New On-Head Detection calibration flow, Show device Serial Number on Device Info card, More reliable estimation of battery charge remaining, New recipient-list mosaic.
XE6 then added: Off Head detection notification sound changed, Shut down notification sound changed, Adding a Caption to Photos/Videos you share on Google+ by voice (Just simply tap on the touchpad after you shared the photo or video), Reply All in Gmail (not sure if this existed before but seems new to me), Hangouts now has a ring so you know its connecting to someone, Appended signature for text and email, “Sent through Glass” now has a “@” symbol as opposed to a “|”, Camera software has been completely reworked pictures now come out brighter and more colorful, Faster photo taken using the camera shutter button, Low light detection which automatically uses HDR to brighten up the pictures, Improved Google Now cards for Sports and a new card for Birthdays, Improved audio quality in video recording, Improvements to off head detection (recalibration required), Google Mirror API now supports streaming, Lots of minor backend changes and several fixes
No love for iPhone?
As you can see in the updates above, Google hasn’t done any changes relating to iOS, iPhone or iPad. Why is that? Is cracking the iOS nut that hard? What are the challenges they are facing? Can they just skip using the smartphone as a crutch and use the smart phone like capabilities built-in Glass and give all of their Explorers the same treatment?
Let me know in the comments below what you think they should add to an upcoming update. Also let me know if you are an iPhone toting Google Glass Explorer.
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