I’ve always thought Google Glass couldn’t work everyday life. Industries, sure. But would you really wear the device on a trip to the shops? Or around the house?
It wasn’t particularly about the device’s features, as Google Glass can offer a lot. But more about the appearance, which is where wearable technology seems to continuously fail. Most smart watches are hideously designed, looking chunky and reminiscent of the kind of plastic game watches for kids that were around in the nineties. The Galaxy smart watch is more appealing, but compared to a classic, simple piece of time keeping, it looks messy.
So Google Glass, to me, has always looked robotic and too futuristic. Something that would appear on Star Trek perhaps. For such a fashion conscious world, it could never work. Not everyday and everywhere. I couldn’t imagine it ever being normal seeing people wearing them when walking down the high street on their way to lunch.
Google Glass reminds me of a Bluetooth device clipped onto your ear, that little bit of technology that says: "I’m a busy, important person", and makes every other person think: "But do you really need that bit of plastic on your ear?" Personally, I think if you’re not a taxi driver, you probably don’t need a Bluetooth earpiece. It looks ridiculous, and a man wearing his work suit teamed with Google Glass is going to look like he’s trying desperately hard to be the tech-savvy, busy professional city boy that GQ desperately wants all you men to be.
I have praised other head mounted devices for being more attractive and little more subtle. The Ion glasses don’t scream ‘technology’, they are more fashion forward. So I was happy to hear that the Google Glass lead designer, Isabelle Olsson, may have come up with a solution to turn Google Glass into ‘Google Glasses’. New frames that screw into the Glass hardware look more attractive and don’t draw too much attention to the device itself. This also allows users who wear prescription lenses to use Google Glass.
So, maybe, Google Glasses could have potential in everyday life. Still feature-rich, but also stylish and able to combine cutting edge technology with fashion.
