How Glass was first published.

The first glimpse of Glass was released in April 2012. It was a 2-minute video showcasing what a ‘smartphone on your head’ could do. The video was recorded in first-person, showing how ‘Google Glasses’ added a layer of augmented reality over your normal vision.

The original video of the Google Glasses-concept

In the end, this probably also caused shit to hit the fan. Another ingredient for the recipe of disappointment: Google Glass didn't cover your entire vision, like an Oculus Rift would. Even today, when I offer people to wear Glass, they are surprised the screen was quite a lot smaller than the first video suggested.

The interaction-design wasn’t pleasing either. Because of its touchpad on the side, you had to raise your hand to perform gestures. And then there’s the problem of public areas: you have to speak to Glass. You don’t want others to overhear the conversations you have with your spouse.

On the other hand, Glass clearly holds a promise. This is mostly caused by its position. Because you wear Glass on your head, features like the camera and microphone hold a lot of potential.

This in turn inspired Greenhouse Group Labs to investigate if the potential features of Glass neutralize its flaws.

Judging a prototype.

Google Glass was a prototype, not a consumer-ready product. And for a prototype, it was quite polished. When it worked, it worked pretty good and it had quite a few amazing applications, and kickstarted a new industry.

For the past year, we worked together with Greenhouse Group on learning about Glass’ flaws and advantages. We weren’t surprised on what we found out.

Poor battery-life

Sub-par performance

We noticed that we experience these two issues on other devices too, like our Smartwatches and Smartphones. The thing is; they are pretty much the same device, but in a different shape and worn on a different spot.

So, instead of moving these issues over our bodies, let’s fix them.