The Google Glass Explorer Programme has landed in the UK.
The devices, costing £1,000, are now available for purchase by anyone over 18 years old and with a UK credit card and address.
Google Glass consists of a pair of glasses with a small prism-based translucent screen-mounted above the right eye. It can take pictures or video from a front-facing camera, controlled by a voice command or a swipe on the right-hand armature, and is designed to display at-a-glance information on its screen which is visible only to the user.
It runs a variant of Google’s Android mobile software, and relies on a smartphone for its data connectivity. Google says it offers about a day’s battery life, or 45 minutes’ continuous video recording.
Since Glass’s introduction, Google has made three hardware revisions and many software updates. The UK variant will come with better battery life than earlier models, as well as customisations to adapt its voice recognition to the varied British accent.
At the UK launch, Marketing Director of Google Glass Ed Sanders said:
“One of the reasons we’re here in the UK is the country’s spirit of innovation. The consumers, developers and inventors in the UK have a very rich heritage of embracing new technology.
“Glass is not a finished product yet and part of the spirit of the explorer programme is so that we can work closely with developers and consumers in the UK at a local level to find out what will take the product forward.”
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