Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 Review - VRX by VR Expert (2024)

The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 is the latest smart glass from the US company Google. After the failure of the first consumer Google Glass in 2014, Google pivoted towards the enterprise market to achieve greater success with the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2. The Enterprise Edition 2 weighs only 51g including the frame and is the only smart glass that supports Google Meet. The device is supposed to help companies achieve higher productivity and simplified workflows. Google’s latest smart glasses are ideal for use in manufacturing, warehouse logistics or healthcare.

In this comprehensive review of the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 we will take a deeper look at the following points:

• Pros and cons
• Specifications
• What is in the box
• Design and comfort
• Ease of use
• Power and Performance
• Display
• Camera
• Streaming
• Memory
• Operating system
• Sound
• Price
• Conclusion

Pros and cons of Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2

Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 Specifications

The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 has the following specifications:

• Display: 640 x 360 pixels RGB display
• Camera: 8MP, 1080p 30fps video
• Microphones: Three field beam-forming microphones
• CPU: Qualcomm XR1
• Memory: 32 GB
• RAM: 3 GB
• Weight: 51 grams (including frame)
• Controls: Touchpad, voice
• Battery life: Up to 8 hours

What is in the box

The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 comes in a white box that looks similar to an Iphone box and does not include any other accessories except for the frame and the USB cable.

This is included in the delivery:

• 1x Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2
• 1x Titanium frame
• 1x USB-C to USB-A cable
• 1x Instruction manual

Design and comfort

The first thing that leaps to mind when considering the new Google Glass is its very unobtrusive design. The Enterprise Edition 2, unlike other smart glasses such as RealWear HMT-1 and Vuzix M4000, comes with a very sleek and robust frame.

Google is able to provide the sleek and thin frame due to the use of titanium. Titanium is one of the strongest metals on the planet making it more robust than most plastic based frames. Furthermore, titanium is also 60% lighter than iron which is how the Google Glass boasts such a lightweight build.

Thanks to this the Google Glass 2 weighs only 51 grams including the frame. This gives it a very clear advantage over the 380 grams of the RealWear HMT-1 and the 222 grams of the Vuzix M4000. Use over the course of a long work shift is therefore no problem and is comfortable for the user due to the light weight. The entire device is located on the right side, where it rests on the right ear like a pair of glasses. The titanium frame completes the Google Glass and rests on the other side also like normal glasses.

The monocular display is projected in front of the right eye with the help of a prism in the so-called Glass Pod, which displays it to the user on a transparent screen.The display is located above the field of view of the right eye, which also cannot be changed to the left eye. This is an advantage of the competitors RealWear HMT-1 as well as the Vuzix M4000 and M400. With these smart glasses, the display can be placed either in front of the left or right eye, depending on which eye is the dominant one. However, unlike the Google Glass and the M4000, the display on the RealWear HMT-1 and the Vuzix M400 is opaque.

Since the display of the Google Glass is fixed above the field of view, the user always has to look up to see the display. In practice, this turned out to be a bit more strenuous for the eyes than it was in comparison to the displays of the Vuzix M4000, M400 and RealWear HMT-1, where the display can be adjusted as desired and can also be set below the field of view.

The Enterprise Edition 2 has a touchpad on the right side of the device, a power button on the inside of the temple, and a selection button on the front right above the Glass Pod. Design-wise, the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 looks very similar to its predecessor. However, the performance of the device has been improved in some aspects and features have been added. We will go into this in more detail in the following points.

Ease of use

The biggest drawback of the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 is probably the insufficient user-friendliness. The device is primarily aimed at developers. The device is built on android oreo, making it perfect for developers to develop applications for the Glass. However, it does not have an app store. The only way to install apps on the device is to connect the device to a PC and install special APK files via the Android Flash Station on the device. However, the available apps cannot be downloaded easily but have to be requested from Google Glass providers.

The next problem is that there are very few apps available for the device. However, a big advantage of the Google Glass is that it is the only smart glass that supports Google Meet. This is of great use for companies that use Google as a communication system.

Just like its predecessor, the Enterprise Edition 2 can be operated with voice commands or through the touchpad on the right side. The operation of the device works well and is intuitive. The touchpad of the Google Glass performs nicely and reliably, but it does not have as many functions as, for example, the touchpads of the Vuzix devices. On the touchpad of the Google Glass, you can only swipe forward and backward through the menu items or return to the previous screen by swiping down. On the Vuzix M400 and M4000 devices, swiping and pressing with multiple fingers provides additional options for operation, making it even more intuitive.

In addition to the touchpad, the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 also offers control via voice commands. The voice recognition generally works very neatly, but the device does not recognize speech very well in noisy environments in particular. For example, RealWear solves this problem in the HMT-1 with noise-canceling microphones, which ensure that the user is still well understood in ambient noise up to 93 db. On the other hand, the RealWear only has voice commands as an operating function and doesn’t have any buttons.

Another disadvantage of the Enterprise Edition 2 is that it does not have a companion app. Both RealWear and Vuzix offer easily accessible companion apps for their products, which make entering texts or even controlling the devices even easier.

Power and performance

Even though the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 only has a few visual changes compared to its predecessor, the Enterprise Edition 1, Google has improved a number of things in regards to its power and performance.

While the first version had an Intel processor, Google now relies on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 processor and thus provides a significant increase in computing power. Together with an increase from 2 to 3 GB of working memory, the Enterprise Edition 2 is capable of running more demanding applications. For comparison, the RealWear HMT-1 has the same RAM but the older Snapdragon 625 processor installed. The Vuzix M400 and M4000, on the other hand, also have the XR1 processor and even come with 6 GB of working memory. Thanks to the improved chipset, the new Google Glass also features faster and more reliable WiFi.

The battery life of the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 is up to 8 hours. This ensures that the device can be worn comfortably even during longer work shifts. The RealWear HMT-1, on the other hand, only manages a battery life of 5 to 6 hours. The Vuzix M4000 has an external battery that even allows the device to be used for up to 12 hours. A big advantage of the two devices from RealWear and Vuzix is that the batteries are hot-swappable. This means that they can be changed during operation, as the devices still have an additional internal battery that can bridge the time of the battery change without any problems. The Enterprise Edition 2 does not have this feature, making it impossible to use the device for the recharging period if the battery runs out.

Display

The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 is a monocular smart glass with the display exclusively on the right side, above the user’s field of vision. The full-color display is transparent due to the use of a prism, so that the user can easily look through it. This means that the user is less distracted from their work and can concentrate and work more efficiently. The prism acts like a translucent mirror that on the one hand directs the light from the Google Glass display into the user’s eye and on the other hand remains transparent so that the user can simply look through it.

The display has a resolution of 640×360 pixels. This was already built into the first version of the Google Glass Enterprise Edition and is the same resolution seen on the Vuzix M400. However, the M4000 as well as the RealWear HMT-1 have a resolution of 854×480 and thus deliver a sharper image than the latest Google Glass. On the Vuzix M400 and the RealWear HMT-1, the display is opaque, which can get in the way of your vision and make some things harder to see.

One drawback of the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2’s display is that, unlike competing displays, it cannot be adjusted. This means that the display must always be worn above the field of vision in front of the right eye. The displays of the M400 and M4000 from Vuzix as well as the HMT-1 from RealWear can easily be moved and placed in front of the left eye.

Also read our Remote Expert Smart Glasses Industry Benchmark.

Camera

The resolution of the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 camera has been improved compared to the predecessor. While the first version had a resolution of 5 MP for photos and 720p for videos, Google has increased it to 8 MP and 1080p for the Enterprise Edition 2. In addition, a flashlight is also attached, which is supposed to provide additional brightness in low-light conditions.

This camera resolution is sufficient for remote support applications, but it is even better on the Vuzix and RealWear devices. The Vuzix M400 and M4000 have a 12.8MP camera with 4K video recording, and the RealWear HMT-1 comes in at 16MP and 1080p. Another advantage of the HMT-1’s camera is that it can be adjusted separately from the display.

Streaming

The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 does not have a pre-installed solution for streaming content. However, there are applications like Cisco Webex, Zoom or Google Meet for the Enterprise Edition 2. Google Meet does not work on any other Smart Glass, which is a big advantage of the Google Glass over competitors, since many companies already work with Google products and the implementation is therefore made easy. On the other hand, Microsoft Teams does not work on the Google Glass.

When collaborating with remote experts, the Enterprise Edition 2 can stream at 1080p and 30fps video resolution. This is quite sufficient for most use cases, but the image becomes pixelated when zooming in. This is not the case with the camera on the Vuzix M400 and M4000. The two devices from Vuzix have a camera with 4K video resolution, which means that remote experts can be provided with sharp images even when zoomed in. The RealWear HMT-1 supports the same resolution as the Enterprise Edition 2.

Memory

The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 has an internal storage of 32 GB. This can be used for storing photos, videos and applications. Both the Vuzix M400 and M4000 devices feature an internal storage of 64 GB, while the RealWear HMT-1 has 32 GB, just like the Google Glass. However, one advantage of the HMT-1 over the Enterprise Edition 2 is that the memory can be expanded by using its micro-SD card slot.

The working memory of the Enterprise Edition 2 is 3 GB. This working memory is sufficient to run most applications without any problems. The RealWear HMT-1 also has 3 GB of working memory, while the Vuzix M400 and M4000 even come with 6 GB of RAM, allowing them to run even more demanding applications.

Operating system

Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 runs on Android 8.1 and no special SDK (Software Development Kit) is required. This makes it easier for developers to create applications for the device. To further simplify app development, Google provides code from several demonstration apps on its website.

The Vuzix devices run on Android 9.0 and the RealWear HMT-1 even on Android 10. The newer Android versions promise a more energy-efficient operation and thus save on battery life.

Sound

The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 has a small mono speaker on the right inner side of the Glass. This is not very powerful and does not offer good sound. However, wireless headphones can be connected to the device via Bluetooth. The same options are also found in the devices from Vuzix and RealWear.

Price

The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 is currently priced at 1049 Euros at VR Expert. Thus, it is significantly cheaper than the Vuzix M4000 and M400, which cost 2350 and 1705 Euros. The RealWear HMT-1 costs 1877 Euros, which is also much more than the price of the Google Glass.

Conclusion

The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 is super lightweight and very unobtrusive, but it only offers a limited range of features compared to its competitors from RealWear and Vuzix. Using the touchpad on the temple of the glasses is quickly limited to navigating between a few windows. Voice commands, while useful, cannot make up for the lack of interaction and are not as reliable in noisy environments as they are with the RealWear HMT-1.

However, the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 has three major advantages over its competition. First, at only 51 grams, Google’s Smart Glass is by far the most comfortable device to wear for extended periods of time. Second, the device is compatible with Google Meet, a feature that no other smart glass on the market has. Third, it is significantly cheaper compared to the other devices.

Overall, the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 has some useful features that could make the device ideal for your use case. In this regard, you can ask us for a free consultation. Contact us at info@vr-expert.com.