Google Glasses for WP8?

[fredolay69]

So i was just reading an article today on fox news all about google glasses. It appears that they will be able to connect to ANY bluetooth enabled phone/device. However, if you wish to use the GPS or SMS features, you will need the app to do so, which is only located on the newest android phones. My question is this....apart from the 5mp camera (films in 720p), what could these google glasses be used for on WP8 devices? They also come with 12GB of storage, and are only WiFi and Bluetooth enabled. Post some thoughts or ideas.

 

[WorzelGummage]

From what I can tell Google Glass isn't for public release just yet but when it is they would need to provide apps for the various OS's for them to be fully functional. However, I can't see Google doing that because they would want you to buy an Android phone.

 

[fredolay69]

Exactly. This is going to be their selling tool to get people over to the android platform. But i feel they would b stuipd if they didnt have a way for all operating systems to utilize their glasses. Of course, they could have a million features for android, and then like a few little things for everything else. I would personaly like to see some WP8 developers design an app specificaly for the glasses, something like liquid dafodil did. Build a notification center hub. Only building a google glasses hub. Sure it wont be "google certified" but atleast something to utilize the glasses.

 

[waded]

It's pretty unclear to date what Google's statements regarding bluetooth connectivity mean in practice. There is silence on the internet about it -- whether through apathy (too bad) or NDA (also too bad, but more forgivable than being interested in Glass, but not Windows Phone.) I think we'll hear more in the next few days as additional Glass devices ship out to developers, who are more likely to use Windows Phone than the "maven" customers users Google originally shipped Glass to.

 

[waded]

I can now clarify with respect to Windows Phone 8, as I've used it (Lumia 920 Update 3 developer preview on AT&T) with Google Glass XE11.

Here's how things work as they are now:

- Glass can pair over Bluetooth to Windows Phone. Glass shows up as a voice headset. I didn't bother to test making & receive calls... I think it's safe to assume this works. This appears to be the maximum Glass can pull off with "any Bluetooth phone" with nothing but Bluetooth. Caveat emptor.

- Glass works quite well with Windows Phone Wi-Fi Internet Sharing. You have to toggle Internet Sharing on/off manually* on the phone, which is not ideal. But once toggled on, Glass has internet connectivity wherever you go, instead of only when you're at (preconfigured) Wi-Fi APs. I haven't had Internet Sharing toggle off automatically yet in this configuration, which is good (it doesn't disconnect) and bad (it'll burns my phone battery down a good 15% an hour with almost no use of the phone or Glass until I remember to turn it off.) Thank goodness for Qi charging of Lumias.

- Glass is not able to do directions & SMS messaging in the above configuration. These scenarios (currently) require a Bluetooth-paired Android device running the MyGlass app... you need an Android device for no other reason, not even for setup! But if you want to try directions, and you have a Wi-Fi Android tablet (like Nexus 7), you Bluetooth-pair the tablet with Glass, and set the tablet up to use Internet Sharing too. Then you get directions whenever the tablet's "in your bag", and when it's not, oh well. SMS messaging is enabled in this configuration too, BUT it's buggy and may not work at all. Glass did let me send texts, but only once told me a text was not delivered... but no texts were delivered. Hmm!

The above works well enough for "explorer"/developer scenarios for certain. I can't say the XE units are for much beyond those scenarios anyway, so I'm not complaining at all. Hopefully this helps.

(*Has Microsoft shared the protocol used to turn Internet Sharing on automatically through Bluetooth in Windows 8.1? If so, I'd think Android/Glass could implement it.)

 

[jojoe42]

I think eventually every company/OS ecosystem will come along with their own wearable computing eventually, in this day and age there is quite a bit of competition between companies and it is unlikely they would have fully support each other - just look at YouTube for WP8 for example...that was a load of s*** to be honest and companies need to be competitive to make profit