This, however, brings us to the most notable complaint of Glass users: the battery life. To be fair to Glass, battery life is a complaint nearly everybody has for any number of portable electronic devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.). Like other computing devices, battery life for Google Glass can vary greatly depending on the applications being used. Operating under what can be considered “average use”, Glass users can expect about five hours of battery life. Certainly not good, but not awful either.
Average use would involve reading occasional emails, taking a few still photos, and recording some short HD videos. Recording longer HD videos can hurt the battery life considerably though, with continuous video recording being reported to drain a fully-charge battery in a mere 30 minutes. If this battery life issue cannot be addressed in the final version, this is potentially huge knock against Google Glass, to be sure.
Potential competitors and collaborators
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has the first-mover advantage, but other companies’ smartglasses strategies are beginning to come into focus (terrible pun intended). Last month, images were leaked of Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU)’s Google Glass competitor, codenamed Baidu Eye. Although Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) has confirmed the very early development of this device, it is not clear at this point if it will actually be released.
Although less reliable than Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU)’s development-confirmation, analysts rumors and patent applications indicate that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) respectively will be releasing their own Google Glass-like products sometime in the future.
There are many potential Google Glass competitors, but there are a few potential collaborators as well. Luxottica Group SpA (ADR) (NYSE:LUX), the world’s largest eyewear company, has been developing smartglasses optics technology for 15 years and has many patents in this emerging space. It has been speculated that Google will work with traditional eyewear companies, such as Luxottica, on the official mass-market release of Google Glass.
And while the current Explorer Edition does not support this, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has confirmed that they will make a modular version of Google Glass that will function with existing prescription and sunglass frames (allowing for any traditional eyeglass frame to become a Google Glass device).
Foolish bottom line
Google Glass has the potential to change the way we interact with our connected devices. That is, if Google can iron-out a few wrinkles. Although the battery life of the Google Glass Explorer Edition leaves a lot to be desired, usability and comfort appear to already be top notch. This seems to be a good first attempt and a promising look at what we can expect from the final version of Google Glass in 2014.
The article Looking Through Google Glass Reviews originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Matthew Luke.
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