In the workplace, nobody calls them Glassholes. Employees at hundreds of companies are wearing Google Glass, the heads-up display glasses that have found a new home in factories and healthcare facilities after getting off to a rough start in the consumer space.

Now Google has a new version of the device–Glass Enterprise Edition 2–with a new look, a faster processor, and a brighter display. The glasses actually come in two parts: Google makes the right side of the glasses–the side that holds all the technology–and Smith Optics makes the safety glasses that the Glass attaches to. This makes it possible for multiple employees to own their own pair of safety glasses and share one Glass.

Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 with Smith Optics frames. [Image: courtesy of Google]

The Glass’s display reaches out over the right lens of the glasses, just above the wearer’s primary field of vision. The wearer, then, can see their work clearly in front of them and look up to check the display, which they are always aware of in their peripheral vision. Glass project lead Jay Kothari told me one of the primary goals of Glass is to put everything the worker needs to perform a task–parts, tools, and directions–in one place, while leaving the hands free to work.

The display in the new Glass is the same size as the first Glass Enterprise Edition, at 640 X 480 pixels. To the worker, Google says, it looks like a 30-inch display 6 feet away. Also, the new Glass runs pure Android, no longer an Android/Glass hybrid OS. Because of this, Kothari says, any developer who makes apps for Android phones can quickly learn to develop apps for Glass. Glass now runs on an XR1 system-on-a-chip from Qualcomm, which Kothari told me is capable of running a neural network to power computer vision applications, among other things. Glass’s camera gets an upgrade from 5 megapixels to 8 megapixels.

The battery, which resides at the back end of the device (positioning it behind the wearer’s ear), is now more efficient and can support two solid hours of video streaming before needing a recharge. The new Glass gets a USB port for charging. The device can be charged to 50% in 15 minutes.

Glass in the enterprise

Google has identified three main applications for Glass in the enterprise, which Kothari calls “superpowers.” The first is as an aid to remind employees of standard operating procedures, meaning the proper way to assemble a product or package it up for shipment. The second is an I-see-what-you-see scenario where a supervisor or …….

Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/90352249/google-says-the-new-google-glass-gives-workers-superpowers