Google Glass wird mit Android KitKat versorgt

Wer hätte denn das gedacht, ausgerechnet ein aktuelles Google-Projekt bekommt ein Firmware-Update mit der aktuellsten Android-Version relativ spät. Wir sprechen von Google Glass, denn die Datenbrille bekommt erst jetzt Android KitKat.

Zuvor war das Gerät noch mit Android Ice Cream Sandwich ausgestattet, Jelly Bean wird offenbar zu viele Ressourcen benötigt haben, denn erst KitKat ist wirklich für Geräte mit weniger Arbeitsspeicher optimiert. Das neue Update bringt aber auch sonst ein paar Verbesserungen und Veränderungen mit.

Übermäßig überraschende Neuerungen oder gar besonders innovative Funktionen sind allerdings nicht mit dabei gewesen.

KitKat for Glass – Our most exciting update is subtle, but big. We’ve been working on a significant upgrade to a new version of the Glass software. 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. And now that Glass runs Android KitKat, developers can write Glassware using the latest Android SDK goodness, along with new features from our GDK.

Photo bundles – This one has been a long-standing request from our Explorers: now when you scroll through your timeline, your photos, videos and vignettes from each day will be organized in bundles so that you can swipe less and see more.

Photo replies in Hangouts – Photo sharing has been really popular amongst our Explorers, so we’ve added new ways to send photos in Hangout messages. The next time someone asks “what’s up,” tap “Reply” and then take a photo to show them. (If you already took the perfect photo, you can still tap to “Send” it in a Hangout message.)

Sending feedback – We always want to hear feedback from you on ways we can make Glass better so we’re making it even easier. Tap on the device info card in Settings and tell us what’s on your mind. If you need help, you can still send us an email, call us, or post in the Explorers Community.

Voice command sorting – With new features and Glassware, your voice command menu has grown pretty long. When you tap or say “ok glass,” voice commands are now sorted by recency and frequency, making it easier to see the commands you use most often and faster to access them from the touch menu.

Video calls – 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 – we’re already seeing the developer community work on other video streaming services. We’ve always said that feedback from Explorers shapes Glass, and this is no exception.

…and more – This is a massive update and we couldn’t fit all the changes into this post, so watch the Glass Journal in the Explorers Community to see the rest.

(via Google+)