Google wants to replicate in its glasses with Android’s success in mobiles. Unlike Glass in 2013, now it makes sense

In 2013, Google Glass He promised to revolutionize our day to day with smart glasses that would give us real -time information. However, the project ran into multiple obstacles that led him to commercial failure. Now, more than a decade later, Google bets again on a similar proposal, but this time The cards on the table are completely different For two reasons: Android XR and Gemini.

“If you go back and look at the original video of Google Glass’s launch, I think the vision was great. This idea of ​​a product that you can take and that gives you the right information at the right time was incredible. An interview during the Google I/O In Googleplex offices in Mountain View, California.

The equation that was missing in Glass

The Google I/O. has left us with great novelties Around the company’s products and ecosystem. Almost overnight, Google bombard us with A flood of functions and products oriented to its Android ecosystem that Gemini has hugged strongly. Among some of the most prominent aspects we could try THE NEW AI MODE which replaces Google’s traditional searches with Search Live, Flow with the new Image 4 models and I see 3and even the new mixed reality devices with Android XR as Project Moohan and His glasses with Gemini.

Payne has given us more context about the plans that the company has for the New ecosystem they are developing with Android XRwhich already borrows all the work behind android for mobiles. The Executive identifies three key elements that were not present at the time of Google Glass and that now exist: artificial intelligence, an ecosystem of robust applications and truly usable hardware.

“One thing that did not exist was the AI. Make Those experiences They were reality required some fundamental advances in artificial intelligence that had simply not occurred yet. Gemini is here now, “Payne explains.

The second factor is the application ecosystem. While for Glass the developers had to build specific applications in a special development environment, Android XR takes a radically different approach. “We are building a platform. We work with the ecosystem. We include all Android developers. Now, instead that developers have to create a new application, the app simply works,” says Payne.

This approach means that All Android applications will work on Android XRfrom mobile phones to virtual reality glasses and devices, eliminating the input barrier that existed previously. With this, Google wants to leave behind That fragmentation problem That has been ballasting Android for years, offering universal compatibility, unified development tools and the use of open standards such as Webxr, Openxr and Vulkan to expand their ecosystem.

Gemini as an intermediary between the software and us

“We think Gemini is for XR what the touch screen was for smartphones,” says Payne, establishing a parallelism with The 2007 iPhone which changed the mobile industry forever.

According to Payne during the interview, Google’s vision for his smart glasses is to create “a natural conversational interface that understands what is important for you and gives you the right information at the right time.” Glasses, equipped with cameras and microphones, They can feed Gemini with real world informationwhile the connection with the phone gives access to the user’s digital world.

Glasses that people really want to wear

The third pillar is hardware. Google has made significant investments in screens technology, such as The acquisition of Raxumwhich manufactures “tiny and efficient energy” monolithic micro LED screens, according to the manager. The company also seems to be considered as important Collaboration with brands Fashionable like Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to create “really elegant glasses, glasses that people really want to wear.”

“What we learned is that people really need to feel that they wear normal glasses to wear them all the time,” Payne acknowledges about the lessons learned from Glass. And to see, the proposal that Google offered in 2013 with Glass cool a lot, but to win the mass public, perhaps opting for One more approach mainstream In design be more appropriate. Proof of this is the irrefutable success of the Ray-Ban Meta Not as a product, which also, but as a format.

Privacy of what we know in Android

Aware of privacy concerns generated by a continuous recording device, Payne also told us more about the approach that Google is adopting in privacy and security. On the one hand, the idea is that the device offer key switches and markers To know when the user is recording, activating their location or sending their information to their servers. “Privacy ends up being the basis of anything we develop around the ecosystem,” says Payne.

In the current prototype we cannot talk that these measures have been applied because they are not for sale to the public yet and everything indicates that the company still has a long journey ahead before marketing its glasses. Of course, Payne has been able to advance that The idea is to apply the Android already familiar permissions framework related to privacy, together with that series of switches and mechanisms incorporated into the hardware to protect the user. It is clear that having constantly connected glasses and that they see everything your eyes see must land with a crucial and determining approach in this aspect.

The explosion with AI can be the ideal time to boost this technology

As we have seen, for Android XR to stop being a niche and become a mainstream product, Payne identifies The confluence of three factors: abundant and useful applications, diversity of devices for different needs, and a powerful interface fed by AI.

“No one is saying: ‘Do you know what I want to do? I want to wear a helmet. I want to wear smart glasses. I don’t know what they do, but I just want to wear them,” jokes the manager about the importance of offering real value to the user.

With collaborators and partners already established with Samsung for Project Moohan (the virtual reality helmet that will arrive this year) and XREAL For lighter devices, Google seems to have learned the lessons of the past. The question is no longer whether technology is ready, but If the rest of the consumers are prepared so that these types of devices end up settling in such a way as smartphones today. Time will tell if Google ends up being right with the formula.

Cover image | Xataka

In Xataka | I have generated this video in less than a minute and from the mobile: so it works I see 2 in the Gemini app