Smartwatch with Android Wear will make Google Glass a story?



    Most recently, the announcement of the new OS for smart gadgets, Android Wear. After the announcement, a little time passed, and two companies, LG and Motorola, announced two models of smart watches with Android Wear.

    The device from LG has already gone on sale , and Motorola has just officially unveiled its watch , which, however, journalists have already been able to test.

    At the same time, one of the journalists, the author of the column of one of the leading technology blogs, Arstechnica, tested both Google Glass (he wore these glasses for many months) and smart watches with Android Wear (both devices were bought by him for his own money). So, this journalist, Ron Amadeo, raisesa rather interesting question: will Android Wear devices make Google Glass-type wearable PCs unnecessary?

    Indeed, a wrist device is more convenient, no less (and possibly more) functional than Google Glass, and does not attract attention (in most cases, absolutely unnecessary).

    You need quick access to certain types of information? Android Wear easily recognizes and executes voice commands, like Google Glass, having the same hot-word detection system as smart glasses. But the device on the Android Wear platform is more convenient than Google Glass, since “glasses” require touching or tilting the head in order to begin to hear the owner. But Android Wear constantly listens to the owner, and gives out the requested information / performs the necessary actions by voice request, without requiring additional actions.

    As for the data itself on request, it can be the exchange rate, weather forecast, the distance from city to city and all that jazz.

    Need to respond quickly to notifications.? Wear has a very wide functionality. This system allows you to work with almost any application, including software, the creators of which have never heard of Android Wear. SMS, organizer, fitness tracker, email, phone calls, what else?

    Google Glass has very limited compatibility with each application, and all this has to be manually configured. Android Wear allows you to receive any of the notifications that arrive on your smartphone, and everything works out of the box.

    Smart watches are more social . In other words, the person in Google Glass is immediately suspiciousattracts attention. Someone doesn’t like that they can take pictures without knowing, somewhere Google Glass is generally prohibited. In general, excessive attention is provided to the owner of Google Glass almost anywhere.


    When chatting with a person in Google Glass, many people will feel uncomfortable. The carrier’s eye is constantly closed by the display; it is not known whether he “writes” you or reads jokes during the time you speak. In general, somehow.

    Well, it’s unlikely that anyone will pay attention to smart watches, except that the same gadget lover as the owner of the device.

    Camera at Google Glass. Yes, this device has a camera that allows you to take pictures and record video. The clock does not have a camera, and even there it would not be very helpful. But the Google Glass images are not very high-quality, the video is also mediocre (they wrote somewhere, among other things, that the glasses get very hot during recording and the battery runs out very quickly).

    The previously announced real-time capture feature (for example, when making calls on Google Hangouts) was blocked by Google, because it didn’t work very well.

    With all this, the camera itself in Google Glass is very ancient, so it’s unlikely to get a good shot. A device with Android Wear does not have a camera (for current devices), but most of us have smartphones whose cameras (and corresponding applications) are much better than in Google Glass.

    Smart watches are more practical . In the sense that they are much more comfortable to wear: put on a hand, and forgot. But with the glasses of the problem - then put them on, then take them off, and then think about where to put it, so as not to break or forget.

    It’s unlikely that anyone will take their hands off in a public place, such as a cafe. And Google Glass during dinner / date / business meeting / next party, most likely, wants to take it off and put it next to it on the table. Well, and where the devices go after the party, some people don’t remember ... you yourself know how it happens.

    Price . The cost of Google Glass is currently $ 1,500, the price of smart watches is $ 250-270. The difference is very noticeable.
    Smart watches are more ergonomic . It’s more convenient to use them as an example - I looked at my hand and that’s it. As for Google Glass, everything is more complicated here: you need to look at one point, which is not very convenient.

    Some users of Google Glass cause a headache strong enough to refuse to wear this device.

    In addition, Google Glass uses white text on a transparent background. Sometimes this makes it very difficult to parse the image on the “display” of glasses.

    Watches with Android Wear LCD \ AMOLED display, where everything is visible at any time of the day, anywhere.



    Ecosystem applications . Applications for Google Glass are dealt with by the division of Google X. Probably, not many other divisions of the corporation are eager to make their applications compatible with Google Glass. In any case, it took the company eight months to make Google Talk / Google Hangouts available on Google Glass.

    Android Wear ecosystem is engaged in the Android Wear ecosystem, which allows us to talk about the imminent appearance of a huge number of applications, “sharpened” for smart watches with this OS.

    By the way, after the recent Google Glass update on KitKat, there were complaints about the slow performance and glitch of glasses.

    Blocking functions . By the way, after the KitKat update mentioned above, the video call function from Google Glass was blocked. In addition, automatic face recognition was also blocked (some applications were already ready and working), explaining this blocking by the need to protect people's personal data.

    That is, two interesting and unique functions that made Google Glass a sought-after device immediately went away.

    Availability. Now Google Glass, in fact, is just a desktop with quick access. Glass is uncomfortable to wear, uncomfortable to use in public, they are expensive. All this can lead to the fact that PCs such as Google Glass will not become popular, but Android Wear, devices with this OS, can just become very popular in all countries. By the way, Google Glass is more or less available so far only in the USA (here again we recall the price of $ 1,500), and it is not known when they will begin to be freely sold in other regions.

    Of course, all this is subjective, but Google Glass does have problems, and there are a lot of them. But a smart watch is a device that is devoid of so many shortcomings of Google Glass, with, at the same time, additional advantages. Of course, Google Glass allows the owner to feel like a cyborg, almost a time traveler, a person following the trend of technological fashion. But this is perhaps one of the few advantages of Google Glass, which smart watches have nothing to answer yet .



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