Whipping out a smart phone and prodding the screen is second nature to most people nowadays. Well Google's Sergey Brin has been giving it some thought, and thinks it's far from the best interface for a mobile device.
Making a surprise appearance at the TED Conference, Brin took out his mobile and looked down at it. Like most people, he said, this is how he spends much of his time. "We often question if this is the way you want to connect with the people in your life," Brin said, The Verge reports. "I feel it's kind of emasculating. You're just rubbing a piece of glass."
Of course, Brin was there to big up Google Glass, so he's bound to criticise bog standard mobiles. But he's not the only one in the Brin household who feels that way. His wife still uses a BlackBerry with a QWERTY keyboard, because she doesn't like the featureless feel of a touchscreen. I guess she won't be switching to the Z10 anytime soon then.
Google Glass, Brin said, aims to integrate communication more into your life, instead of confining it to a rectangle you carry in your pocket. "The cellphone is a nervous habit," he said. "I whip this out and look as if I have something important to do. [Google Glass] takes that away."
Brin also repeated that Glass will be on sale this year, as we'd heard previously. Questioned about recent eBay listings that were selling Google Glass for $15,000, Brin said, "I wouldn't trust those eBay posts."
Glass is said to cost around a grand when it hits shop shelves later this year. If you're excited, you're in good company, as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can't wait to get a pair on his boat race.
Are you looking forward to Google Glass? Will it render the humble handset irrelevant? Or will it be an overpriced novelty that never takes off? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.
Image credit: James Duncan Davidson
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anonymous 28 February, 2013 10:21
My knob feels fine
anonymous 28 February, 2013 11:13
I'll agree that the mobile phone is a bad habit, but I don't understand how touching glass is emasculating. Still, I'd rather that then look like a cyberpunk pirate.
anonymous 28 February, 2013 11:22
What if you already wear glasses?? Do these go OVER your glasses?? I've yet to find anybody answering that question.
anonymous 28 February, 2013 11:28
I have to agree...gracefully swiping a touchscreen does feel a bit more feminine than tapping away on my old blackberry...but being gay I don't suppose looking super manly is really something that worries me on a day to day basis...I can imagine however if a 'proper man' like my dad traded in his chunky flip phone for an iphone it would look very strange seeing him using it...I guess its just a more delicate set of gestures that makes the difference!
Peter Hudson 28 February, 2013 15:25
So it was my iPhone that made me gay :s
anonymous 4 March, 2013 12:53
The word can also mean "make a person weaker or less effective". I'm assuming he's using that meaning, though it's more commonly used in the meaning most commenters understood it as.
That said, I do agree on the touch screen issue. But for different reasons. Physical buttons offer feedback that touch screens can't offer. I don't need to take my ipod classic out of my pocket to navigate through tracks in a playlist. With an ipod touch that is impossible.