MyGlass update lets you control Google Glass UI with an Android device
As anyone who's stuck Google Glass on their head knows, controlling its UI via swipes, nods and voice commands can sometimes be... awkward. Now you can do it remotely, thanks to an update to the MyGlass companion app.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google Glass has been opening up incrementally through 2013 — the GPL release of its kernel source in April and the hidden Labs features uncovered in May both signaled a platform being built in public. The MyGlass update extends that pattern to input itself: with touchpad swipes, head nods and voice commands all described as awkward in daily use, the Android companion app becomes a remote control for the headset's UI.
The story traveled widely — pickups at The Verge, Ars Technica, CNET, GigaOM and others within a day — reflecting how much attention Glass input friction carries among an Explorer audience still evaluating the device's everyday usability.
First-order effects
- Glass Explorers gain a discreet way to navigate the UI from a pocketed Android phone instead of publicly tapping the frame or issuing voice commands, directly addressing the awkwardness Engadget and the wider coverage describe.
- MyGlass shifts from a setup-and-screencast utility toward a genuine control surface for the headset.
Second-order effects
- Because the remote runs on Android — which Kantar put at 51.7% of US smartphone sales for the quarter ending April 2013 — nearly every Glass owner already carries the required controller, making paired-phone control the path of least resistance rather than a new accessory purchase.
- Developers watching the platform now have a second interaction model to design against: companion-app screens alongside the timeline UI, on top of what the April kernel-source opening already invited them to poke at.
Third-order effects
- If wearables keep delegating their interfaces to paired handsets, Android's dominant installed base positions it as the default control layer for the category — a structural advantage that compounds as more devices ship without rich on-device input.
- The pattern also raises the stakes for input innovation on the glasses themselves, since every capability offloaded to the phone weakens the case for solving hands-free control natively.
The trend: Wearable devices are increasingly outsourcing their user interfaces to paired smartphones, with Android's market share making it the presumptive control layer for head-mounted displays.