Google will be making its innovative augmented reality headgear Google Glass in Santa Clara, California.
According to “people familiar with the company’s plans”, the search engine giant is working with Taiwanese component manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry, or Foxconn, to establish a facility to build the Google Glass headsets in California.
Part of President Obama’s drive to more revolutionary manufacturing happens on American soil, bearing the label of “Made in America”, sources claim that Google is keen to keep manufacturing operations close to their Silicon Valley headquarters.
As the Google Glass production is still small scale, but high in cost and complexity it is more practical to keep the manufacturing process in the US. Foxconn, who also produces the Apple iPhone range, is much more accustomed to producing millions of electronics units out of its factories in China.
Although it is not known how many staff members would be employed by the Californian based Google Glass facility, a local manufacturing base will allow the device’s engineers easy access to the augmented reality technology for last minute adjustments and finishing touches.
Google Glass Features
With Google Glass expected to go on general sale by the end of the year, 8,000 of the Google Glass Explorer contest winners will be given the opportunity to purchase one of the $1,500 (£990) headsets. This batch of initial users will be among the first members of the general public to get access to Google Glass, currently only available to Google employees and developers.
The augmented reality technology works by utilising a combination of voice commands started with the phrase “Okay Glass” and a small touch panel and button mounted on the side of the device. Google Glass features currently include video recording, taking photographs, starting Google hangouts, access to Google Maps, Gmail, Path and Skitch, with voice, object, clothing and facial recognition also tipped to play their parts.
All the features are projected in the user’s field of vision via a small translucent square suspended in the top right hand corner of the Google Glass headset.
With the Glass Explorer project coming along fairly rapidly, the feedback received from this new userbase should help Google fine-tune the final product that should be available at the end or this year or early 2014.
Are you convinced that wearable technology is the right move for the future of gadgets? Are you quite happy with your smartphone rather than using something like a smartwatch or Google Glass? Give us your thoughts on the matter via the TrustedReviews Facebook and Twitter feeds or the comments below.
Via: Financial Times
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
