Google Glass tech specs: 5MP/720P camera, 802.11b/g Wifi 16GB storage (12GB usable), full day battery
Along with today's Glass API release, Google now officially announced specs for the Glass Explorer editions. Notable is the camera which will take 5 Megapixel images or 720P video.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google had already moved Project Glass beyond a concept demonstration by showing its intended use and expanding Explorer preorders in February 2013. Publishing Explorer hardware details alongside the confirmed Glass API release turns that early access program into a more concrete developer target.
The specifications matter because Google’s stated ambition around a conversational computer depends on visual capture, speech interaction and software built for a wearable form factor, rather than a single showcase experience.
First-order effects
- Glass Explorer developers receive a defined baseline for Glassware: a 5MP/720p camera, 12GB of usable storage, Wi‑Fi and a full-day battery target.
- Google can evaluate Glassware against known device limits as the API opens the platform to developers.
Second-order effects
- Glassware makers must design capture and video features around the Explorer’s storage and battery constraints, making efficiency part of the product experience rather than an implementation detail.
- Explorer preorder holders become the initial test population for apps built to Google’s published hardware envelope, tightening the link between device access and software feedback.
Third-order effects
- If Google continues pairing wearable hardware with an API, head-mounted computing will compete as a developer platform whose usefulness depends on third-party software fitting strict power, storage and camera limits.
- The Glass launch points toward ambient, camera-and-voice interfaces where hardware specifications shape what kinds of services can operate continuously.
The trend: Google is moving Glass from a public prototype toward a constrained wearable-computing platform built around an API, camera and voice-oriented interaction.