Google on Friday is not only opening up Google Glass orders to interested buyers looking to score a pair of smart glasses, but it’s also rolling out a major update to its wearable device, bringing KitKat to Glass owners. Starting with 9 a.m. EDT, Google will be opening up a “limited number of spots in the Explorer Program,” but the device will only be available to U.S.-based customers willing to spend $1,500 for it.
As for KitKat for Glass, Google describes it as its “most exciting” update for the device yet.
“Our most exciting update is subtle, but big,” the company wrote on Google+. “We’ve been working on a significant upgrade to a new version of the Glass software. It’s not a change you can see, but it brings improved battery life and makes Glass more reliable and easier to update in the future. And now that Glass runs Android KitKat, developers can write Glassware using the latest Android SDK goodness, along with new features from our GDK.”
Some of the KitKat for Glass features it highlighted in its announcement include Photo Bundles, which will organize photos, videos and vignettes in bundles; Photo replies in Hangouts, which will allow users to share images within Hangouts; Voice command sorting, which will let users see what their most used voice commands are; and an easier way to send feedback to the company. Video calls have been removed, as they apparently aren’t up to Google’s standards.
Other features are also available in the update, but the company did not detail all of them in its announcement. “This is a massive update and we couldn’t fit all the changes into this post, so watch the Glass Journal in the Explorers Community to see the rest,” the company wrote.
