Aiming to make Google Glass more stable and have a longer battery life, Google has announced that it will deliver a software update to Android KitKat in order to continuously improve the wearable technology. However, some Explorers -- the first users of Glass -- are saddened to see the video calling application removed.
The announcement came the night before Google was opening up to the public the one-day sale of Google Glass, in which experts say is either a means to continue to test the current model or that in order to move forward with an updated version the company needs to get rid of the current stock.
Either way, customers are expected to get their hands on Google Glass in solid numbers.
"It's not a change you can see, but it brings improved battery life and makes Glass more reliable and easier to update in the future," Google wrote in making the announcement. "And now that Glass runs Android KitKat, developers can write Glassware using the latest Android SDK goodness, along with new features from our GDK."
That is good news for programmers who have been angling for the opportunity to continue to write new programs that can function on the unique product. While the company says it believes this is an important update into the future trajectory of Google Glass, it did not elaborate on any timeframe for purchase of a newer, updated version for the general public.
The update will also help to streamline content viewing on a user's timeline, meaning they can simply swipe away vignettes and images that they have already seen or just want to remove, giving more space for viewing, a key caveat that early Explorers had pointed out to Google.
Despite the initial sadness surrounding the drop in the video-streaming application, Google did say that it was currently having its developers continue to work on the video chat option.
"We hold ourselves to high standards for the features that we build, and video calls aren't living up to these standards. Explorers have told us so directly, and fewer than 10% of them use video calls. For this reason, we've made the hard decision to remove video calls from Glass until the experience is better. We don't know when that will be, but in the meantime, keep an eye on MyGlass as more Glassware is built and released," the company stated.
While the video chat may be gone, the update delivers on a number of important points, namely the ability to send and receive picture replies. This feature had not been a key factor in the previous version, but Google has added it, making it quicker and smoother to send images in replies to fellow Explorers.
