Google Glass has, until recently, been a bit like the proverbial hen’s teeth; ephemeral, hard to get, and expensive. With a recent opening of the doors, everyone was able to get Glass for just one day, but that quickly ended.
It seems now that Google has decided to open the doors to everyone. While this will make Glass a bit more commonplace, it doesn’t address the price: getting Glass will set you back around $1500 US.
Posted on their Google+ page overnight, the Glass team announced:
Last week we told you we’d be trying out new ways to find Explorers. Well, we weren’t kidding. We learned a lot when we opened our site a few weeks ago, so we’ve decided to move to a more open beta. We’re still in the Explorer Program while we continue to improve our hardware and software, but starting today anyone in the US can buy the Glass Explorer Edition, as long as we have it on hand:google.com/glass
We know most of you reading this won’t be based in the US, and thus will find it a bit more difficult to take advantage of this opportunity, but would you be tempted if there was a way to get your hands on Glass?
An Explorer Edition, for around $1800 AUD, is an expensive proposition, and while Glass is undoubtedly pretty cool, the first edition of any product is always a bit iffy; the battery life isn’t fantastic, and we’ve heard differing opinions as to the comfort of wearing Glass for prolonged periods.
Would you be interested in Ausdroid obtaining some Glass so we can really explore and unpack it for you? Let us know!
If Google offer you guys a pair for review only, then I’ll be interested to see what you think it but like the others, I don’t feel that you need to go out of your way to purchase one at the price they’re asking for them. Beside you guys will be fighting over who will be doing the reviews at Ausdroid. 😉
“Would you be interested in Ausdroid obtaining some Glass so we can really explore and unpack it for you? Let us know!”
I say sit on it and wait, there is plenty of thorough information out of the US on this. It’s a lot of money for ausdroid to spend simply for the benefit of a local review.
Agreed, Ausdroid is a blog not a cash rich organisation. If Google was to supply a demo unit for the review then great, would be good to see a local review away from the US based hype however there are more important things to spend limited money on.
Looking forward to the day we just don’t interact with one another in real life anymore. Wall E is sure looking accurate.
I am still waiting to see someone walking on the street with Glass. That will be a special day.
I loved the API for Glass. It is surprisingly simple, being heavily based on sending XML back and forth to a Server. I wish I could construct a use for it in our office so that I could get them to buy some developer hardware.
US only still…
🙁
Very keen but for work use not personal. I do a lot of consumer research including in store research & we currently record these on a traditional handycam or gopro. Being able to record these from the researcher or subjects pov would be fantastic.