Beware, giddy Google Glass gazers! Mystery filing obscures view on new gadget.
This week a new device passed through the FCC—codenamed GG1—and many have speculated that it’s the next generation of the Glass hardware. At the beginning of this year, the Google Glass program was moved into Tony Fadell’s Nest division and the questions surrounding the wearable changed from “when will this weird head gadget finally die” to “when will this weird head gadget be reinvented and released to consumers.” Since then, Eric Schmidt insisted that the program is far from dead and the CEO of Italian eyewear Luxxotica told the Wall Street Journal said a “second version” that incorporated the “second thoughts” Google had about the platform was coming “soon.” Now, Droid Life has dug up a submission to the FCC that shows fairly compelling evidence that Google is actively testing the next version of Glass.
Google appears to be testing a new version of Google Glass called GG1 after an unknown piece of Google hardware was logged by the US Federal Communications Commission (FFC).The ad giant, in a “request for confidentiality” missive, asked the US communications watchdog not to disclose the following revealing information about the gadget – which has been labelled “BLUETOOTH & DTS/UNII a/b/g/n/ac”: Google additionally urged the FCC not to publish the device’s photos and user manual until 180 days after the grant date.It would appear that Google Glass’ successor, a device unofficially known as GG1, has been spotted, suggesting that it might not be much longer before Google’s much-awaited reboot of its Google Glass connected eyewear arrives.
Google Glass is all set to make a comeback with its latest version, months after it left the market after testing of a suspicious Google hardware piece. While the Explorer Edition was anything but a runaway success, what some are calling the “Enterprise Edition” could very well be what Glass needs to take it mainstream into the office. These kinds FCC documents used to be a rich source for people looking to learn about what gadgets were coming soon, but in recent years both those companies and the FCC have learned to lock up actual product photos under confidentiality agreements. The FFC, which tests electronic products to ensure they’re safe for human contact, logged an anonymous gadget codenamed A4R-GG1 the week, spotted by Droid Life.
Mountain View said in its letter (PDF): It is our understanding that test measurement reports and correspondence during the certification review process cannot be granted confidential treatment, and such information will be available for public review once the grant of equipment authorisation is issued. If you’ve been keeping up with up with Google Glass news and leaks, you may know that GG1 is said to be directed towards enterprise applications this go around. When Microsoft launched their Surface Tables years ago I could see a lot more enterprise use from the device than simply moving photos around during the early days of the demos. Nevertheless, there are still details to be found amongst the tests, which require companies to disclose whether or not the radios inside these gadgets are safe for use around humans.
Google Glass, a colossal failure and a premium device for most wallets, was shelved early in 2015, with Nest division head Tony Fadell inheriting the project and overseeing its big reboot. After that, we heard quotes from Italian eyewear maker Luxxotica suggesting that Google’s follow-up to Glass would be coming soon, and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, who pretty much said that rumors of the device’s death have been greatly exaggerated. With Hololens now in the frame, Microsoft are back in a big way, touting virtual and augmented reality as the next big thing in the office, and at home.
The job listings include an Audio Hardware Manager, a Human Factors Designer, an RF Systems Engineer and a Hardware Automation Engineer (Manufacturing). I’ve been writing about marrying up touch and virtual enabled devices with an enterprise productivity purpose for years and personally I still feel that losing the mouse and keyboard is somewhat inevitable, hands are infinitely more adept at manipulating an environment and objects and having a touchscreen/ gesture based version of enterprise tools would be a natural transition.
And in this case, Google is taking advantage of the 2014 E-Label act, which lets companies bury those labels away in the settings instead of printing them on the device itself. The description suggests that Google may be looking to expand Glass into a family of assorted wearable products, rather than the single head-mounted device that struggled to win over consumers. Chalk it up to the eagle eyes at Droid Life, who found the FCC filing, showing proof that Glass’ successor, with ID number A4R-GG1, may be in the active testing stage.
It really wasn’t consumer ready back then, maybe allowing enterprises to use the new version might slowly help the public know it’s full capabilities which might gain a consumer version more acceptance. At the time in 2010 I also got in touch with Schematic (www.schematic.com), the firm behind the technology as seen in Minority Report because creating such a device for enterprises in a workshop environment would be an exciting prospect. So instead of speculating about the shape of the device based on the size and position of a sticker, we get to speculate on the software of the device.
There aren’t any photos or schematics included in the filing, what with the FCC getting tough on image leaks, but the filing suggests certain basic features, such as compatibility for Bluetooth and different Wi-Fi bands. The devise is not ideally categorized as a smart phone or a tablet, and is equipped with Bluetooth capabilities and WiFi along with a built in rechargeable battery. Here, the GG1’s documentation also gives us details: it’s going to appear on a particularly Glass-like rectangular display and it’s available on a submenu that requires users to “scroll left and right” — the scrolling directions used on the last version of Glass. WiFi capabilities have been enhanced to support ac WiFi and 5GHz along with support for Bluetooth LE, the reason for this is the fact that Glass at Work has been centered on video streaming and the software behind it. I even pointed towards John Underkoffler at TED demonstrating the very same thing, and in which towards the end he lists the kinds of end user industries he’d see this kind of technology implemented in (I urge you to watch the demo all the way through and try to imagine integrating this in an enterprise context.
Concerns were raised over the ethics of using Google Glass in public after privacy groups argued the headset could be used for covert recording or photography. The company withdrew its wearable headset from the gadget market in January this year, but it promised that it was going to release a latest version ‘’when it is ready’’.
Google published its own etiquette guide for users last February, advising them not be “creepy or rude” while wearing it and not to take pictures without permission. If we look to an article which discusses how Glass can change advertising you can begin to see where this can lead. ….what if the ads you saw were different than the person next to you? Google went on to publish an ethic guide last February for its customers and advised them not to act ‘’creepy or rude’’ and also to seek permission before taking the pictures. In other words, what if you looked up and instead of seeing an ad for something you would never buy — like women’s shoes — you saw an ad reminding you of that Amazon search you did a few days ago ?
Plus with not being tied to your desk you can floor-walk at the same time or do this anywhere, anytime, without the need to carry a tablet or phone interface with you. In an interview I took with Dr Ross Brown of QUT he stated that “Augmented reality system tools for Business Process Management would be nice as well.
Imagine six sigma data overlaid on the artifacts used in a process model…all on a heads up display as you walk around the company – a “BPM Tricorder”. And similar to the article about advertising, every co-worker will have a different view based on their own work and position in the organisation, again able to call this up at any time, any where.
Go deeper and you could have enterprise social integration, the obvious trick is to offer filters for the noise from the relevant and actionable information to present in front of the user. It’s not just implications for workflow scenarios and businesses in customer service industries, healthcare is another example of where wearable technology like this could be a massive boost in real-time and mobile patient informatics. Whether enterprise software vendors will make a serious investment in Glass v2 will remain to be seen but Glass “Enterprise Edition” will not be the only AR device on the market to develop for when it’s eventually released.