谷歌眼镜的5大改进方向

    谷歌眼镜（Google Glass）是谷歌公司（Google）在可穿戴计算技术领域的一项重大突破。笔者曾询问过硅谷之外的人们对它的看法。我所得到的回答几乎类似：听起来很酷，看上去很傻。

    “哈，让我戴那玩意儿？想都别想。除非他们放弃像《回到未来》（Back to the Future）里一样丑陋不堪的外观，”一位痴迷于休闲电子小配件的朋友最近这样对我吐槽。（现在，请告诉我你的真实感受。）

    简单说明一下，谷歌眼镜是一款增强现实眼镜，定于今年晚些时候上市。谷歌眼镜可以将图像投影到镜片上，还可以与你的安卓移动设备同步访问网页，也可独立操作。谷歌承诺，谷歌眼镜功能包括：识别语音命令、拍照、摄像、搜索网页、导航和推荐附近的餐厅等。简而言之，它做好了彻底革新计算技术的准备。难怪有传言称，苹果（Apple）和微软（Microsoft）等公司也在开发可穿戴设备：据高德纳公司（Gartner Research）预测，截至2015年，可穿戴设备市场规模可能将达到100亿美元。

    谷歌眼镜开发者版本，即“探索者版本”，目前已经到了一些幸运者手中。评论几乎一致认为，这款硬件的早期版本令人兴奋不已，具有无穷潜力。不过，缺点也有，因为还是它早期版本，因此，不论是其硬件还是软件，或者价位，都有很多可提升的空间。

    因此，我们总结了几条建议，希望到消费者版本上市时，谷歌眼镜能有所改进。不过，首先需要说明的是：我们并没有体验过谷歌眼镜。对于谷歌充满未来主义色彩的小玩意，我们的意见与其他许多人一样，都是根据我们在公司活动上有限时间内的体验，在旧金山大街上与佩戴者的交流，以及早期的深入评论。所以，虽然我们的意见可能不太成熟，但可以将它们看作我们期望看到的功能特性。我们的建议如下：

    设计上还要下功夫。许多人可能认为谷歌眼镜非常时尚。不过，肯定也有许多人（比如我那位朋友）会认为谷歌眼镜目前的造型艳俗不堪，戴上它像个书呆子。（科技网站The Verge的总编约什•托波尔斯基曾质疑：“谁会愿意在公共场合戴这么个玩意儿？”）谷歌可能也意识到了这一点。据报道，从去年二月份起，谷歌便一直在与时尚眼镜初创公司瓦尔比派克眼镜公司（Warby Parker）谈判，联手设计更时髦的镜框。不论谈判能否成功，消费者版本的谷歌眼镜预计在外观上肯定会有很大变化，希望它能变得更加低调。

    增强显示效果。对于谷歌眼镜显示器的初步共识是，它足以胜任显示需要，但仍有提升空间。谷歌称，谷歌眼镜的显示效果相当于在八英尺外看25寸高清屏幕。但瘾科技网站（Engadget）总编蒂姆•斯蒂文斯表示，所谓高清的说法有待商榷——图像和文字显示细节可以更出色。再加上偶尔出现的颜色失真和不一致，使谷歌眼镜看上去就像“老旧的无源矩阵LCD屏幕。”谷歌希望消费者能全天佩戴谷歌眼镜，但消费者们早已被智能手机、平板电脑，甚至笔记本的超高清屏幕给宠坏了，现在他们怎么可能接受这样的显示效果？所以，很明显，谷歌在这方面还要多下功夫。

    When I ask people outside Silicon Valley about Google Glass, the company's big play on wearable computing, I get a similar response: Sounds cool. Looks geeky.

    "Ugh, I won't even think about wearing that thing until they ditch the god-awful Back to the Futurelook," a friend and casual gadget fiend recently confided to me. (Well, now, tell me how you reallyfeel.)

    To recap, Google Glass is a pair of augmented reality eyewear due out later this year. It projects images onto the lenses and syncs up with your Android mobile device to access the web but also operates independently. On the list of things Google (GOOG) Glass promises to do: recognize voice commands, snap photos, capture video, search the Web, offer directions, and suggest nearby restaurants to check out. In short, it's poised to possibly revolutionize computing. No wonder other companies like Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) are rumored to be working on wearable devices of their own: Gartner Research projects the market could balloon into a $10 billion industry by 2015.

    A developer's version of Google Glass, dubbed the Explorer Edition, is already making its way to a lucky few. Reviewers tend to agree it's an exciting early piece of hardware with a lot of potential but one that's just that: early. There's still a lot of work to be done on many fronts, from the hardware and software to the possible price point.

    We put together a list of ways we'd like to see Glass improved by the time the consumer version finds its way onto consumers' faces. But let's get this out of the way: We have not played with Glass yet. Our opinions of Google's (GOOG) futuristic tchotchke are, like many, based on the limited time it's received at company events, our interactions with those wearing it on the streets of San Francisco, and early in-depth reviews. So as premature as it may sound to some, consider ours a wish list of features we'd like to see. Here they are:

    Play with the design. A few might call it trés chic. Many more like my friend will probably call Glass's current look loud and nerdy. ("Who would want to wear this thing in public?"questioned Joshua Topolsky, editor-in-chief of The Verge.) Google likely knows this. As of last February, the company was reportedly in talks with trendy eyewear startup Warby Parker to design more elegant frames. Whether negotiations pan out or not, expect the consumer version of Glass to look significantly different and, hopefully, much more understated.

    Crank up the display. The early consensus around Glass's display is it's competent, but it could be much better. Google says it is like looking at a 25-inch high-definition screen from eight feet away, but Engadget editor-in-chief Tim Stevens argues the high-definition part is questionable -- image and text detail could be better. That, along with the sometimes inaccurate, inconsistent colors means Glass "almost has the look of an old-school, passive-matrix LCD [screen]." Given Google wants you to wear this all day, the idea of staring at something of this quality after being spoiled by ultra-high-resolution smartphone, tablet, and even notebook screens, and it's clear more work could be done in this department.