*This is some good, useful stuff here. Especially when it comes to the quotidian realities of engaging in daily life with some alpha-rollout machinery on your head.
http://livingthruglass.com/the-good-the-bad-the-socially-awkward-brian-merrell-reviews-google-glass/
(...)
"2. The Bad
"There are quite a few issues with Glass, both in terms of inadvertent, fixable issues (bugs) as well as basic consequences of its design. Hardware design-wise, the biggest issue is the battery life. This might be a consequence of software; I have read that it runs stock Android beneath the card-based interface/launcher. As light as Android may be compared to a PC operating system (even Linux, upon which it is based), it may require even further paring down. User-level multi-tasking is not something critical to the function of the device (it can only display one thing at a time) and its removal or reduction may help save precious battery power. Initially, it was said to “last about a day”, which I have found to be completely fantastical. I get perhaps 3 hours from it. In my bike rides to work, if I actually use the features, it may consume more than 50% of the battery in a 45 minute bike ride. If I do nothing at all, it consumes probably about 25-30%. This is sort of shocking.
"Additionally, Glass gets quite hot, and may malfunction in non-ideal environments. I’ve been having some severe issues that I may open with tech support soon. More than once it has been too hot to wear. During these times, it has also exhibited other errors, such as an inability to accept input, rapid uninitiated task switching (i.e., going between the main menu, voice input, video, etc., all within seconds and without me controlling it).
"Unfortunately, Glass also cannot seem to maintain a Bluetooth connection to my phone (an unrooted Galaxy Nexus running stock Android 4.2.2). I have worn it perhaps 4 days per week for two weeks and it will frequently stop communicating with my phone, despite Bluetooth remaining active and my phone being no further than my pocket. Also, occasionally the app quits, or sometimes it will remain running despite WiFi or Bluetooth not being available. Generally I have to turn Glass off for 10 minutes to an hour before this returns. I have speculated that this is related to the heat issue, but I don’t have reliable data to be confident of that correlation.
"Google Glass is, at this time, lacking certain critical software features. The first thing would be some sort of Reminder app. Sending an email to oneself or sharing something on Google+ might be a workaround, but that requires a wearer to designate him- or herself as a contact and constantly send self-addressed messages. This is clumsy. A Reminder app would be better — along the lines of: “OK, Glass, remind me at 8 o’clock to call Jim to talk about travel plans.”
"While Glass does not lack Google Now integration, at the moment it’s rather incomplete. There’s nothing to tell me when my next appointment is (or maybe it’s just not working for me) or when my deliveries can be expected, or who won the Stanley Cup finals. (Strangely, it does keep constant track of my stocks, even on the weekends when I don’t care.) This really needs to be improved.
"Voice Search is also limited, and is not well integrated with Google Now. This would be sort of ideal, right? ”OK, Glass, when is my next appointment?” or “OK, Glass, Google my reservations”. Both of these should return something. Right now, they don’t.
"Finally, of all things, this seems positively made for Google Goggles integration. Not constant — that would drain the battery even more quickly! — but “OK, Glass, what am I looking at?” should initiate a Goggles search. The obviousness of this makes me wonder if there was a specific reason it wasn’t implemented.
"3. The Socially Awkward
"For all the Glass defenders who say the device doesn’t look weird, give it up. Yes it does. Stop pretending it doesn’t...." (((it gets even better! Go read it.)))
