Google takes aim at enterprise with new $999 Glass headset

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Google
Say hello to Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2.
Photo: Google

Google Glass is officially moving out of Alphabet’s “moon shot factory” to become an official Google product.

The search engine giant revealed its new Glass Enterprise Edition 2 spectacles today only instead of trying to reach mass appeal with consumers, Google is focused solely on making Glass great for businesses.

Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 won’t be available for regular consumers to purchase. In fact, your business will need to contact someone at Google to get them, but the company appears to be ready to sell a lot more units than previous builds.

The new smart glasses feature a more powerful Snapdragon XR1 processor with an AI engine for better battery life, improved performance and machine learning capabilities. Design-wise, the glasses look pretty much the same as the last version. Rather than having a full display in your face like HoloLens, Google Glass EE 2 looks like a regular set of glasses with an embedded camera and a heads-up-display on the right hand side that displays critical information.

Glass Enterprise Edition 2 sports a USB-C for faster charging and longer battery life. They’ve also added an improved camera with a bunch of other new little features. Google also partnered with Smith Optics to make Glass-compatible safety frames for different types of work environments. Google also says the new frames are easier to developer for because its built on Android and now supports Android Enterprise Mobile Device Management.

The entire package is priced at $999, which is significantly cheaper than the $1,500 Explorer version launched a few years ago that failed to take off.

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