The day has finally come.  I received my invite to join the Explorers program, and purchased the technogadget I’ve been drooling over for the last 6 months: Google Glass.

Upon finishing the transaction, I was given the choice to go to New York, LA, or San Francisco to pick it up.. OR to just have it shipped.  Although originally I was planning on spending a night in NYC to pick them up, I decided that I couldn’t wait another week and just had them shipped. Amazingly, I had my glass 8 hours later.

Unboxing was a very fun experience… packaging seemed like it was straight out of Apple’s book (unboxing video coming soon).

After a few days of playing around and getting familiar with Glass, I can honestly say “THIS IS AWESOME!”  Before I was exposed to Glass, I had a worry that Glass wouldn’t be something I’d be interested in having on my face all day.  Now, after several days of nonstop use, I can say with certainty that it is tough to NOT have it on.  Surprisingly, the word that comes to mind to describe Google Glass is: unobtrusive.  The apps don’t bombard you with notifications or information.  At first, I didn’t like the fact that it wouldn’t notify me if someone commented on my Facebook post, but I quickly realized that this is perfect.  Everything is there with a simple tap or head nod, but only the really important stuff “pops.”

Glass took some getting used to. I think I have a head start in getting acclimated, because I just got prescription lens glasses about 6 months ago.  Getting used to wearing regular glasses took me almost a week.  Adding Google Glass to sit on top of my glasses only took a few hours to feel natural.  I’m very excited to get prescription lenses for Glass.

About 5 minutes after connecting them to my WiFi, the XE11 update downloaded and installed, so this is the only version I’ve been exposed to so far.   I really like the Google Now features. A few times I’ve been surprised/impressed so far:

• Swiping over to see a reminder of a local college football game today was very cool.
• Earlier in the day I searched for directions on my iPhone’s Google Maps app.  I didn’t end up taking the trip, but I noticed a few hours later the directions were showing up as a “card” on Glass, all ready to go with the touch of a button.
• Talking my phone through taking a picture, writing a caption, and then sharing it on Facebook all with both hands free.
• The responses from Google are really good… similar to the Google Search app on the iPhone. The responses are formed as sentences, if possible: “There are four cups in a quart” or “Harrison Ford is 71 years old.”
• The camera is quite amazing:

All in all, I’m very impressed. This weekend I plan on diving into some Glass Development.  Stay tuned!