Google Glass: A mission to end the smartphone era?

BANGALORE, INDIA: Very soon, the cyborg look might be a fashion. Well, we are taling about the fanciful and trendy Google Glass.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who is often seen sporting the Google Glass at conferences, seems to be on a mission to make it a new style statement. "It is "emasculating" to use a smartphone," he said. That is most likely to intimidate smartphone makers, who are in the race to bring in new forms and innovative features. But Brin seems to be unaffected as his sole focus is on promoting the Glass, said to be launched this year at $1500.

He was quoted in a TED blogpost: "When we started Google 15 years ago, my vision was that information would come to you as you need it. You wouldn't have to search query at all."

"But for now, we get information by disconnecting from other people, looking down into our smartphone. Is this the way you're meant to interact with other people? Is the future of connection just people walking around hunched up, looking down, rubbing a featureless piece of glass? In an intimate moment, it's kind of emasculating. Is this what you're meant to do with your body?"

So, how does the Google Glass address it?

Glass frees the eyes and the hands when it comes to connecting to the Internet on the go. Even for photos, you just say take picture and click it goes. Above all, Google Glass also records videos of the people, places, and events around you, at all times, according to a blog.  

"That is why we put the display up high, out of the line of sight," Brin said. "If I wore a ball cap, the display would be on the brim and not where you are looking," he says. "And sound goes through bones in the cranium, which is a little freaky at first, but you get used to it."

Google wants to ensure zero distration when it comes to communication, which is often disrupted now by beeping phones. So is Google Glass the new face of communication? Or, is it the beginning of the end of the smartphone era?