Google Glass Experience: Part 1 - Connectivity

Technology is headed in the direction of integrating

• Wearable devices
• Augmented reality
• Artificial intelligence
• Natural language processing and
• Connected devices - Internet

Google Glass is an example of how some of these technologies can come together.

I recently got Google Glass and will be chronicling my experiences with it.  This series (hopefully) of posts will cover my specific situations and again hopefully the solutions for the problems I face.

Connecting Glass to the Web at Work

While Glass can take pictures or record videos without Internet connectivity, it becomes more useful when connected.  

My Situation:

1. Phone: iPhone 5 running iOS 7.1.2 (this is a work phone - does not reflect my choice)
2. WiFi at work 
1. Public Wifi with ToS (Requires to go to a website to accept terms of service to get access)
2. Enterprise WiFi - WPA2 - enterprise

Glass can get connected in 2 ways

1. Via Bluetooth tethering with a smartphone or tablet which has Internet connectivity via
1. Cellular data plan OR
2. WiFi
2. Direct connection from Glass to WiFi.  Glass cannot connect to WiFi that is
1. Public but requires Terms of service acceptance on a website
2. WPA2- enterprise

So in my case option # 2 (Direct connection to WiFi at work) is out.

For option # 1, let us consider the 2 most popular OS's

1. Android - works seamlessly - just pair the device to Glass via Bluetooth and all your troubles are over!  It will use either the phone/tablet's cellular data plan or use data from the WiFi that the phone/tablet is connected to.
2. iOS - while it is easy to pair Glass with the iPhone, it WILL NOT connect even to the WiFi signal unless the "Personal Hotspot" feature is turned on.  The problem is that this requires an additional monthly charge even though you might just be using the phone to connect to WiFi. which is either free or you have paid for.

Need to set up Personal Hotspot on iOS

So in short there is not way to use Google Glass at work without paying an additional monthly fee it seems.

Ideally Apple needs to enable the Hotspot feature automatically when the phone is connected to WiFi and need us to pay or take additional steps (e.g. use shared data plans) only if we use cellular data.  

My Solution (s):

1. Use an old Android device 
• Pair this device to Glass; Connect the Andorid device the Public WiFi at work and thus connect Glass to the Public WiFi.  The problem is the need to carry an additional device and keep it charged
2. Use a MiFi - again same problems (additional device, charging).
3. There is another potential solution that I have not tried yet.

Another issue is setting up WiFi on Glass

If you have an Android device, that you pair with Glass, the MyGlass App on the device will work seamlessly in setting up the WiFi on Glass.

You can also use the MyGlass app on iPhone or visit http://www.google.com/myglass to set up the WiFi.  This requires scanning a QR code using Glass.  When I tried to set up Glass to connect to a MiFi using this method it did not work (both with iPhone and browser) but it worked first time with an old Android tablet.

MyGlass Dashboard 

Example of QR code to set up WiFi

Summary:

Glass at least at this stage is difficult to connect to the Internet if you have the same WiFi situation as I do and do not have an Android device.  

The search for that elusive single device - Tablet and/or Laptop

A lot of people own multiple devices - a desktop, a laptop, a tablet and a smartphone. They carry the latter 3 around when they travel. While the smart phone is not a big issue, I have often wondered about eliminating either the laptop or the tablet when traveling.

Is it possible to get rid of one or the other? Laptops have traditionally been heavier, take longer to boot up, generally have not had a touchscreen human computer interface. Tablets while being great consumption devices are often a compromise when creating content.

Recently I blogged about the HP Revolve. I took it, along with an iPad and an Android tablet to course that is was giving for medical educators. On the last day of the 5 day course I realized that I had not taken out the tablets out of my bag during the entire course except to do a couple of demos. I also used one of them to read in bed and one to play a game on the plane trip back.
The laptop is light, boots up in a few seconds, is rock stable, has a touchscreen so I can draw and write with my finger, runs full versions of all the creative software, has an excellent keyboard and is thus becoming my go to device. What drove the point home was that I was able to do a demo of Educreations on it - normally I have to use an iPad for this to draw on the screen as I speak.

We keep talking about the tablets replacing the laptop but it is very possible that with the right form factor and features, the reverse could be the truth. Imagine if the MacBook air had a touchscreen and all the iPad apps? Or if the Chromebooks had touchscreens and android apps? Or if the windows apps store got all the key apps you used? If Apple made the move, it might cannibalize the sale of its iPads, Google might very well be poised to do this, and Windows is clearly well on the way with Surface Pro.

iPhone 5 - Should it have a back button?

As I posted earlier, our workplace moved from BB to iPhone 5.  The iPhone will be the only supported device for corporate e-mail.

As I use the iPhone, I realize that it seems to be missing something very simple that I have gotten used to using on both the BB and the Android.

The home button at the bottom has to serve the purpose of 3 buttons on Android 

Consider these cases:

• You get an e-mail with a hyperlink.  You click on the hyperlink and it displays the web page in the browser.  Now you want to return to the e-mail.  How do you do it?
• You are reading Google news.  You click on an item of interest and it opens a new tab.  Now you want to go back to the news stream.  How do you do it?

I cannot find a way to do it in iOS with one click.  Maybe I am missing something but seems like a simple oversight. 

The first versions of iOS did not allow multiple apps to run concurrently I believe.  Maybe there was no need for a back button then.  Seems it is high time for iOS to get this IMHO.

Another issue is the height and width of the iPhone 5 combined with a "back" navigation button at the top of the screen makes it very difficult to have a one-handed operation.  

Android has a back button along with the home button and a button to show the running apps at the bottom of the screen.  In the Google News example above, the back button closes the newly opened tab and takes you back to where you were in the news stream with a single click!  

The back button is integrated into all Android devices at the bottom left.