5 Gadgets That Didn't Live Up To Their Hype

A lot of iPhone 6 owners have been complaining this week that their new gadgets are becoming ‘bendy’ when they’ve been in their pockets for a long period of time.

With a lot of hype revolving around the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, this news is surely going to have a negative effect on the sales of the device, which experts were predicting would go through the roof. With this news, we thought it’d be good to look at four other gadgets that might not have lived up to their full potential.

The Segway

The Segway was one of the most anticipated gadgets of its time (2001) and had been called the ‘new-age scooter’ and although there are still a number of celebrities spotted on these around their homes, very few ‘normal’ people can afford the $5,000 price tag. Not only was the Segway overpriced, but when the President George Bush fell off one in 2004, it was the end of the road.

Blackberry Playbook

Blackberry were living the high-life for a few years with their mobile phones aimed at the business market, but as the years rolled on, more people opted for the iPhone and less for the Blackberry. So, when Blackberry introduced the Playbook in 2011, they thought this could be their way back to the top … they were wrong. They released this tablet but a lot of its features only worked if you owned a Blackberry phone, so its market was limited.

Nokia N-Gage

Nokia are another company that have fallen by the wayside recently, and although they dominated the mobile phone market for a few years before Apple got involved, one of their nails in the coffin was the Nokia N-Gage. This half phone, half game controller was released in 2003 and cost $299 at the time. They even ended up releasing an N-Gage 2, but that didn’t do too well either.

Google Nexus Q

Google make the list too. Usually, they’re a company that get things right, but when they introduced the Nexus Q in 2012, it was a bit of a disaster. Despite looking like something out of Star Wars, it was overpriced ($299) and wasn’t all that useful. The idea was to make media consumption more social, but in theory all it could access was Google’s content.

Electric Cars Could Say Goodbye To Wires In 2017

Advancing technology in cars has been a hot topic of late and it doesn’t look like it’s going to die down any time soon.

We spoke recently about the in-car technology that Google and Apple are turning their attention too, but it is cars in general that are dominating the headlines; more specifically, electric cars.

According to Anthony Thompson, VP of Development and Marketing for Electric Vehicles at Qualcomm, we can expect to see the first wireless charging cars by the end of 2017. As a nation that thrive on convenience and that share a hatred for wires, this news is quite a relief.

If there was one major pain about electric cars it would be plugging them in after every journey. But with help of Qualcomm’s Halo technology, this pain should be eliminated. Hoorah!

Even though we will have to wait until 2017 to see this technology in action, it does already exist on the safety cars used during the new Formula E Championship – the world’s first entirely electrical racing series.
In 2015 though, we can expect to see this wireless car charging technology used on the race cars themselves.

So, how will they work?

The wireless charging pads will be bolted to the ground on a flat surface as well as to the bottom of the electric car. Once both the ground and the car is fitted with these pads, all the driver will need to do is drive over the charging pad, park it and leave the car to start charging.

Anthony Thompson did mention that the cars fitted with this wireless charging technology won’t come cheap though. He also said, “The first wirelessly charging electric cars will be premium vehicles, eventually filtering down to other, cheaper models.”

There have already been a number of worries about the efficiency of the wireless pads compared to the cars being plugged in but Thompson explains that only around 10% is lost through the whole wireless system. In fact, he believes that their highest power unit can allow users to get up to 95% efficiency from the wireless charging pads.

Roll on 2017!

Google Invests In New Glasses

As we all know, Google has been busy at work trying to perfect Google Glass but the internet super-giant is now turning its attention to other types of glasses.

Google has recently awarded a group of UK-based technology projects with large sums of money to help them develop their projects in order to change the world. In fact, there were ten groups in total, four of them were awarded £500,000 and the runners-up were awarded £200,000 each to help them progress.

There were a lot of interesting ideas among the groups and one of those top earners was the RNIB smart glasses. These glasses also bagged the People’s Choice award too, which was not an accolade that was given to them by the judges’.

The RNIB smart glasses are a wearable device that will allow people with sight loss the ability to “see” their surroundings. So, although Google Glass is going to be a helpful tool for a number of people, these smart glasses will offer so much more value to the world.

According to the MD of RNIB Solutions, Neil Heslop, 90% of those people who are registered as blind still have some degree of vision. He said, “The glasses work in a way that means the depth of the camera assesses shape, size and the positioning of those objects nearby enhancing them to make them appear brighter.”

This wasn’t the only project that appealed to Google though. Another intriguing idea was a wearable device that belonged to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and is intelligent enough to hear mosquitoes. With the aim of attaching to a wristband, this device aims to detect a number of different types of mosquitoes and will hope to prevent certain diseases.

There was another wearable that came close and that idea was formed from Android game technology and wearables. The idea is to improve the mental health of young people, which is something that often gets overlooked. This project was created by We Are What We Do and is in fact a game that helps to strengthen the emotional resilience of younger people as well as manage their stress levels.

So, although many of us just know about Google’s aim to bring us Google Glass, they are actually investing time and money in a number of more important, world-changing ideas to help society too.
Good ol’ Google!

Google And Apple Get Things Rolling

The technology giants are at it again, this time both showing an interest in in-car technology.

Google has, this week, proven exactly why it is serious about moving its technology into cars by adding a new recruit to their ranks. Former CEO, Alan Mulally, has been added to Google’s board of directors which means he brings a wealth of experience to the company and can help them make the necessary steps into the car market.

Alan Mulally left as CEO of Ford after an eight-year stint at the company in June. Before that he served as CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, so he knows his stuff.

Apple have made a move into the car industry too and have set their sights on getting their CarPlay technology into Volkswagen cars by the year 2016. CarPlay was always going to be a slow rollout but we are already seeing more and more names on board.

Volkswagen was not one of those already mentioned in the list of car manufacturers but now there is a lot of talk of Apple changing that. Talks between VW and Apple are currently ongoing and if things go well there could be an announcement made at some point later this year.

Apparently though, if CarPlay is to make an appearance in new Volkswagen models we will have to wait until 2016 as it is a bit late notice for them to feature in next year’s cars. This delay is not wholly a bad thing though as Apple is continuing to update its CarPlay system so it can connect wirelessly instead of having to use the USB Lightening cable.

What both of these moves do mean though, is the race for the best in-car technology system is likely to become very interesting shortly.

Google has already made announcements about its commitment to the motor industry and its Open Automative Alliance includes Audi, Honda, Hyundai and General Motors.

Apple on the other hand, is getting to work on persuading other car manufactures besides Volkswagen, including Mercedes, Jaguar/Land Rover, Toyota and Volvo.

Could It Be The End For Tablets?

Just as we get an influx of tablets from all of the biggest names in technology including Google, Samsung and Apple, there is news surrounding a possible demise of the tablet.

The reason this news has surfaced is because Apple, the company that has dominated the tablet market for a while now, is now selling much fewer iPads, which could mean they may be making a six-inch phablet. This has therefore led to exaggerations that tablets are dead – far from the truth.

There have been rumours for months about Apple adding a bigger phone to its collection and these rumours won’t be going away any time soon. The phablet market is huge in Asia and Samsung have already begun preparations for releasing a seven-inch phablet there.

News of living in a post-iPad era are not quite accurate, but this could happen sooner than we thought. Although the iPad no longer dominates the market, it is still a high quality piece of technology, that is beautifully created and ahead of its time.

Apple has a knack at being adaptive and one example of this is the iPhone 5 turning into the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in order to cater for consumer behaviour. So, don’t rule the iPad out, especially when there has been an increase of 25% in the number consumers that are 65 years old or older, which is a relatively new market.

It is not only the over 65’s that are into tablets, once people have a tablet, they are much less likely to trade it in unlike they would with their smartphone, which means people hold onto them much longer before replacing them.

But, the future could very well belong to the phablet – a smartphone with a big screen of between 5.6.9 inches. According to statistics, 25 million phablets were sold in China and South Korea alone, with sales doubling each quarter. In 2014, it is predicted that phablets will make up 25% of all smartphones sold, equating to 300 million, so claims that the future could belong to the phablet could be true.

What To Expect From Google IO 2014

Google has already had a very busy 2014 but the search engine giant has had an equally productive last 12 months, snapping up several companies.

Google has also unveiled a whole host of products over the last 12 months and has dropped subtle hints at tons more. So, it’s only fair that we look at some of the rumours for the Google IO Keynote that is scheduled to kick off on June 25.

With plenty of discussion revolving around intimidating-looking robots, smart watches and impressive home technology, it could be a very exciting occasion, although if you wanted to go to see the technology first-hand you have missed out on the registration date.  Fear not though, you can watch the Google IO through a live stream on both the 25th and 26th June.

So, what can we get our hopes up for?

It could be time for a Google watch. We’re unsure of whether we will see an official Google watch but we could get a sniff at smartwatches powered by Google’s Android Wear platform – close enough. These watches could come in the form of the LG G Watch and the Motorola Moto 360.

For people attending the event, they could get a glimpse at the latest Google Glass edition after plenty of beta versions sampled at a wild £892, that could boast some more apps and a new demo of the Android KitKat software. For us guys that aren’t fortunate enough to go down for the day, we may just have to read about how good it is.

We spoke about Apple CarPlay a few weeks ago and given that Google are still yet to unveil their infotainment system yet, the Keynote seems like the perfect opportunity to do so. With Google Maps continually updated and improving, this could be an impressive piece of software that could make driving an even better experience.

We could also get a look at the Project Era ‘LEGO’ type phone, a modular phone that consists of upgradable parts in the hope of helping to save its users money and reduce cell phone waste.  The most exciting about this is that it could to pave the way for customisable tablets, smartwatches and even laptops in the future, which could be incredible.

Up, Up And Away

Amazon and Google are not only trying to pave the way for our future technology when it comes to mobile devices, they are also introducing other technologies of the future.

Drones, which once used to be a figment of our imagination and science fiction, are now getting closer to reality in the public domain. The military have used drones for some time now for high-tech missions and have used them to great success.

There has been a growing debate about robot technology and whether we should feel a bit uneasy at human-less vehicles but they will soon be here, and we’re sure they’ll be here to stay.

Amazon and Google have released news that they have bought out drone makers Titan Aerospace, which means they are looking to invest a lot of time and money into making high-tech drones for the public.

Amazon already has big plans for the drones as they plan to make them fully automated, GPS equipped and unmanned so they can deliver small packages from the warehouse to the home within 30 minutes. This incredible move would mean the ‘human’ would not be needed – clever if it works.

Google also has plans for the drones, only their reasoning is a bit more profound. They have explained that the drones could help bring internet access to millions of people, as well as being able to help solve other problems. Google say these will include things like disaster relief and damage to the environment (e.g.  deforestation), which could be revolutionary.

Unmanned aircraft is an incredible piece of technology and the likes of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky all use them to some degree to help with the filming of their programs and commercials. So, it is clear to see the benefits and versatility of this kind of technology.

Companies, like Google and Amazon, are always looking at new directions for technology and we think, especially in Google’s case, we should be welcoming this kind of technology with open-arms.

But, what do you think? Should we be welcoming unmanned technology or should we reconsider relying on them?

Apple Vs Google.....Again

Apple and Google are two giants in the technology world, and they’re at it again, only this time it is to be crowned king of cars.

Apple has unveiled plans to launch its rebranded in-car iOS functionality Apple CarPlay, an operating technology you can use in your car to rival the equivalent version from Google, the Android Projected Mode.

The two techno-giants will battle it out once again to see who can turn their hand away from smartphones and tablets, to in-car operating systems.

One of the main battles, that Google may have already won, is the field of mapping and navigation which is not going to prove hugely important in this fight.  Google maps, as we all know, is miles ahead of Apple maps with its broader track record in automotive tech, including driverless cars. That’s not all, with the promise of Google Glass also having an effect on in-car technology, Google is putting forward a very strong case for people to favour it over Apple’s CarPlay.

Although Google may boast this advantage, the two largely do the same thing, namely sync a mobile device with the car’s integrated infotainment system. This will enable drivers to control features, functionality and the on-screen interface.

One function that will be very appealing to phone users and car owners is the ability to upgrade the in-car technology every time you replace your handset, which is a much cheaper option than having to replace the car. Another great aspect is that all of your necessary data, i.e. contacts and music, will be transferred across so drivers will not need to go through a draining process of adding them manually.

These all-singing, all-dancing in-car systems will have to overcome some issues though, namely which automotive manufactures they will team-up with and the obvious concern of driver distraction. Another difficulty is the ups and downs of mobile internet – if a smartphone drops its signal whilst you are walking the streets of London, it is not such a huge problem, but if you’re driving from Brighton to Leeds and the signal drops, you could have a problem.

Let’s not let these technicalities overshadow the possibilities that these two impressive technologies bring and just lets appreciate that the driving experience just got a whole lot smarter.

A Change In The Way We Pay

Loyalty cards, credit and debit cards, and good old cash in a wallet has been the same for the last 20 years or so, but that is all about to change.

Some big names in the tech world could be trying to convince us to ditch the metal and the plastic and to opt for new ways to pay.

Just a few days after it was announced that total online sales has risen year-on-year to £11.1bn in December last year, it is no wonder that the likes of Google and Apple are coming up with ways to appeal to the mobile audience.

Digital wallets are just another technology advance that consumers can expect to see in 2014. In fact Google’s wallet service will allow users to put money on their phone to spend in-store, as well as being able to spend it online too. This software will transform an Android phone into a contactless card with near field communication technology.

Similar to Google, Zapp make sure that there is an app for that.  Zapp is a system expected to launch in the autumn which will be made available to 18 million UK account holders. If you hold an account with HSBC, Nationwide, Santander, First Direct or the Metro Bank, you will be able to shop with the Zapp app, which claims to be more secure than card payments.

This clever little app will allow consumers to use their smartphones to pay for their purchases in 2014, making cards and cash seem like a thing of the past. This system will only allow people to pay for purchases made online initially but they expect the app to be branched out to in-store shops not too long after.
Square is another way for us to pay, and this is an idea created by Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey.

Dorsey’s aim is to remove cards altogether but this small appendage plugs into a headphone jack of any mobile phone and allows merchants to swipe cards through it in order to take a payment. After a high-profile deal with Starbucks, that means a lot of people could be using this method of payment.

A lot of people have been worried about the security of these methods though, but there is no doubt that this new way to pay will be another technological advance to look out for in 2014.

Motorola Plays Catch Up

Motorola used to be at the forefront of mobile technology a few years ago, but recently it has found itself playing catch up.

With Motorola’s release of their new Moto G this week  Vice President of the company, Magnus Ahlqvist, has said that the company is looking to move in an ‘exciting new direction’.

The company has been nearly non-existent over the last 18 months but he has explained that customers can expect that to change. The release of their Moto G might just do that.

The Motorola G is the equivalent to the Nexus 7 but is the size of a smartphone. As we know, Motorola is being backed by Google, so why the phone has been released under the Motorola brand is a mystery, and one that we’re sure will be revealed soon.

It is a clever move by Google at the outset as now they have their toes dipped in laptops, tablets and smartphones, so are appealing to a much larger market. With Motorola lagging behind the scenes of technology for some 18 months or so, should we expect this smartphone to be the next thing to change the market?

Well, with it aiming at the mid-range of users and boasting a low-end price tag, it will definitely get smartphone users listening. The Moto G will be available in two storage sizes – one being 8GB and the other 16GB. The former will cost you around £135 and the larger storage device will cost just £25 more – so they’re very affordable in comparison to the likes of Apple and Samsung.

Although this device is priced as such, it is actually placed in a field of technology that it could quite well outshine the competition. It weighs just 143g, so it is lightweight and well balanced, which is a good start. The rear plate is rubberised too which fits comfortably into the palm of your hand; it’s water repellent too.

It boasts simplicity and efficiency all in the one handset and comes equipped with a 4.5 inch display, which is clear and crisp. The Moto G also comes fitted with the Android 4,3 Jelly Bean, well, until the Android 4.4 KitKat comes out that is. The camera is snappy too which is always a bonus, even if it doesn’t compliment the aesthetics.

Overall, this could be exciting times for Motorola and those looking to get a smartphone on a small budget.

What You Need To Watch

When it comes to technology, there have been a lot of new introductions already this year but there is one product that has been on everyone’s agenda, a smart watch.

Smart watches have been one of the hot topics of the last few months and with Samsung announcing their Galaxy Gear, more technology bigwigs are starting to give us something to think about.

Rumours surrounding the Apple and Google headquarters are becoming louder and louder and we have already seen a number of concept ideas from the former.  In fact, only recently did we feature an article about Apple’s iWatch.

Google themselves are being closely watched too. When they bought Wimm, a maker of Android-based smart watches, back in September, many technology enthusiasts thought it was inevitable that the search-engine giants would be rolling out a new smart watch very soon.  Google actually look set to be the next tech giant to launch a smart watch following on from Samsung’s introduction.

According to reports surrounding this topic, the smart watch from Google will use many of the utilities that are commonly found in the Google Now software, which is an intelligent mobile digital assistant, so it could be a very useful watch indeed.

Samsung’s Galaxy Gear already has a 320 x 320 pixel Super AMOLED screen in 1.63-inch and a 1.9-megapixel camera installed too. It also boasts a 800MHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage, so it will take some serious technology from Google and Apple to knock it of its perch.

These three techno-wizards have a rivalry that far surpasses just watches though, as we all know, and they are constantly trying to out-do one another.  So Google and Apple, we’re sure, will be using the release of Samsung’s Galaxy Gear to their advantage in order to create a model of smart watch that is all singing, all dancing.

There are other smart watches available on the market already though, like Sony’s Smartwatch 2 and the Pebble Smartwatch, so we can fully expect to see more and more companies crawling from the woodwork and jumping on the bandwagon.

How Apps Sparked A Mobile Revolution

Let’s play a little game. Without looking on your smartphone or tablet, how many apps do you think you have on your phone? 

If you’re anything like us, you have probably lost count of how many you have downloaded, but our guess would be you quite a lot, especially if you count old ones you will have deleted as well as the current ones you have. 

Did you know that the average smartphone will have around 41 apps on their devices? It is also predicted that by the end of 2015, smartphone owners and technology enthusiasts will have in fact downloaded around 89 billion apps. Quite a staggering statistic, don’t you think?

We have mentioned previously how Apple’s AppStore has helped the app market rocket through the roof when it was first introduced in 2008. Since this date it has seen over 850,000 apps and a mere 50 billion downloads and these apps have included everything from games through to music-related apps and even health related apps. 

This introduction alone sparked many others to follow, including Google’s Play Store which we have also mentioned before. This app store has also given us a wealth of apps and is predicted to further improve our ‘app economy’. 

As apps continue to improve, so does our technology with a constant flow of new mobile devices, tablets and even glasses (Google Glass). Apps have become so much a part of our everyday life, we even use them to help us wake up in the morning, and now businesses are using them as a way to maintain their client base. In fact, many organisations are building their own internal enterprise app stores as a way to manage their corporate-sanctioned apps for the employees to use on their PC’s and mobile devices whilst at work too. 

It just goes to show exactly how far we have come in the app world since the first launch of Apple’s AppStore some five years ago. Although, we know that this has barely even scratched the surface of what we have to look forward to in the future. Apps have a long future ahead of them, and quite frankly we’re thrilled about it!

Android Tops The Tablet Table

Did you know that for every two tablets that are activated in the UK, one is an Android?

Well, it’s true. This statistic was revealed by Google, who also said that over the last year more than 85% of Android tablets have been activated. These activations were approaching a figure near 10 million towards the end of 2012, and as we begin August 2013 the statistic is nearer the 70 million mark.

In last week’s blog post we mentioned that the Android app store, Google Play, currently holds 1 million apps, which is just another statistic to add to the already impressive numbers.

Android isn’t just making huge movements with its tablets though; the software is also improving on its smartphone devices too. Just this week we found out that Microsoft Office is now joining the world’s No. 1 mobile platform.

Microsoft made huge waves earlier this year when it joined forces with the iPhone, but now it is turning its attention to Android which, as is shown by the previous statistics, is clearly a smart move. Unfortunately though, Office will only be available on Android phones, but we’re pretty sure it will only be a matter of time before it is available on tablets too.

The Office app is free to download but you must be subscribed to Office in order to run the actual programs (i.e. Word, Powerpoint and Excel). Once you have subscribed though, you are able to run the program on up to five different mobile devices; great if you have a different device for Monday to Friday. Still, it’s pretty useful for you and your friends or work colleagues. 

The news of Microsoft Office joining Android is bound to be welcomed by a number of people, especially business people who spend a lot of time traveling and students too. This news may have to be delayed to us guys in the UK though, as it is only available in the United States for now.

We expect Microsoft to release this app in dozens of other countries over the coming weeks including the UK, so we will have to wait just a little bit longer.

Welcome to the Google Show

Google has been dominating all the headlines over this past week and this time it’s for more than one reason.

First, the search engine super giant celebrated reaching 1 million apps within its Google play store, doubling last year’s tally, and in the same week has announced that they have sold out all of their initial orders of ‘Chromecast’ on the same store.

Let’s start with Google play reaching 1 million apps. Back in June of this year, Apple announced that it boasted more than 900,000 apps within its store and now Google has announced it has gone one better, reaching a million. These 1 million apps have collectively brought Google Play a huge 50 billion downloads.
What this does also mean is now Android is both the most popular smartphone platform worldwide, as well as having the most apps. Not a bad feat!

The head of Android and Chrome teams, Sundar Pichai, has said that this is a huge reflection of Android’s growth and strength on both smartphones and on tablets. He’s not wrong!

Then, to top a great week off for Google, they also announced that ‘Chromecast’ has sold out all initial orders on the Google Play store too. Chromecast is Google’s new media streaming accessory, enabling it’s users to bring their web content to the TV. This HDMI dongle also allows users to control this content through use of the apps on their phones and tablets. At $35 a pop, Google must be seeing ‘pound signs’.

If this all wasn’t enough, Google has also hinted that people will be able to rent and buy textbooks through Google Play too. All we know is it’s going to be one big store, and one successful one too. No pricing structure has announced for this as of yet, but if directed at student’s it will have a huge target market so we can expect to see quite a lot of discounted textbooks for the initial launch.

As you can see, it has been quite a successful couple of weeks for Google, but don’t for a minute expect that to be the end of their domination in the technological world.

Android 5.0 - Key Lime Pie

Reading the title you may have thought you were going to read some type of recipe, unfortunately you’re not. Instead, Key Lime Pie is a codename that actually refers to the new Android 5.0 software development which is underway right now.

Those clever tech-heads over at Google have continually produced new software for their smartphones and tablets year after year and it’s not long until their newest release is due. The Android 5.0 is next in line to impress us and although there has not been an official released date as of yet, we can’t help but be interested.

There are so many rumours circulating the internet, so we are going to put a list together of some of the expected features we can hope for.

Earlier this year, we found out that Google is working with the Linux 3.8 kernel, so it is likely that this kernel could make it into the Android 5.0.  For those that are not sure what this means, in simpler terms, it means that we would be getting a much snappier phone and improved multitasking.

Another feature we could look forward to is Google Babel.  Babel was used by Google to explain their cross-platform service and app, with the aim of collectively combining their various chat services.  These include the likes of Talk, Voice, Messenger, Hangout, Chat on Google+ and Chat for Google Drive too.  A fairly credible Android source announced that Google Babel will be supported in devices running the Android 2.3 software and above, and on the 15th May this is what happened.  Although we thought it may be debuted on the Key Lime Pie, it will more than likely be a feature.

Although pure speculation, there have been many Tech Geeks requesting new features to be included.  Some wishing for a brighter interface compared to the latest 4.0 version, whereas many have been urging a bigger and better performance profile.  For example, a gaming mode for maximum power delivery or a minimal power mode for when we read.

Other requests include a better social networking support system and better apps (i.e. Video Chat app).  One thing is for sure though, we still have to wait a little longer to find out what we will get with the new Android 5.0.

What is Google Glass?

When you think of the internet, you think of Google and when you think of technology, you think of …. Glass?

The search engine super-giant has released its new Google Glass, a computing device that you wear like a pair of glasses. This new Google Glass is aimed at the next step in technology and boasts similar features to that of today’s smartphones.

For those of you that don’t know what Google Glass is, we are going to clear up a few things for you:

So, what actually is Google Glass?

Like we said, it’s a computer device you wear on your head but not only that, it has been reviewed as the equivalent of a 25-inch screen that is just eight feet away from you. It may not be as detailed as a top of the range smartphone but it does have a good screen and is relatively easy to function. 

What are its features?

In a nut shell, Google glass is a display, a camera, a touchpad, a battery and a microphone all built into one device that is very reminiscent of a pair of spectacles. You can also video, send and receive emails, texts and calls and you can, of course, do Google searches. This clever piece of kit might be cutting-edge technology but at what cost you ask?

How much is it?

When Google Glass was first shown to its audience at the Google I/O developer conference in 2012 it cost $1500 to pre-order. So, not cheap. 

Although it may look a bit silly on your face, like some sort of torch or glasses with no lenses, it has got a lot of people rather excited.  And we are no different!  Especially when we found out that Google Glass will be able to run apps.  Google Glass will only run apps pre-approved by Google before we can use them which mean only the decent ones will be available.

With Google Glass being built with Android technology it is bound to have some interesting apps and has been purposely intertwined with Google’s own services which mean the apps will operate more like features than separate apps altogether.

The potential of this device is enormous; let’s just hope it lives up to our expectations.