Glass at a glance

To understand Glass we must first examine its hardware. The Glass UI is projected on a tiny transparent display called the “prism”. The prism doesn’t block the viewer’s direct line of sight. As a result, the user can be fully present with the physical world while Glass can provide information in the periphery.

Simple swipe gesture on Glass

Most user interactions on Glass occur through touch via the Touch Bar located to the side of the unit. The Touch Bar supports a variety of gestures. Some of these are not unlike gestures found on a mobile device, e.g. tapping or swiping.

Navigating Glass

Navigating Glass is not unlike going through a deck of cards. Imagine a stack of cards in front of you that you can move horizontally by swiping back or forwards. You can also navigate the stack vertically by swiping up or down.

Glass UI dimensions

The prism UI is small. Excluding margins, the active area of the screen is 560px by 280px. This size is similar to that of an Apple Watch face. The main difference is that Glass isn’t a high-density display, so every pixel counts.

Regardless, Glass is an impressive piece of technology and with the new release last year it is more powerful and lighter than before.