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Why I wouldn't wear Google Glass - by The Gadget Show's Jason Bradbury

This week's Gadget Show Live at Birmingham's NEC will see dozens of wearable technologies - but gadget fan Jason Bradbury, presenter of the hit show, says that 'wearables' haven't hit the spot quite yet.

A woman poses wearing the latest version of Google Glass - but the augmented spectacles have yet to take off

The Gadget Show’s Jason Bradbury admits that he has a ‘unique’ fashion sense - including flatcaps that recall the Seventies glory days of chimney expert turned TV presenter Fred Dibnah - but, he says firmly, “Even I wouldn’t wear Google Glass.”

Bradbury is to present at the Gadget Show Live event at Birmingham’s NEC this week, where Google’s Glass will be on display, along with rivals that many technology companies believe will transform our world.

Google’s have been worn by celebrities, and demonstrated on television - the lightweight devices respond to commands such as “OK Glass”  with a computerised display offfering maps, apps and messaging on screen.


Not everyone is a fan of Google’s vision of “wearable computing” - San Francisco is plagued by so many developers wearing the devices that - so far - 13 bars have banned the glasses…

 


[Skyscraper sized Tetris on display]

 


“There are going to be a lot of wearables at Gadget Show Live,” says Bradbury. “Fitness wristbands, watches, Samsung’s new Gear 2, which has a speed-reading app that lets people read emails on screen. But there’s no elegance. I don’t think the Swiss watchmakers should worry.”

Spritz, the speed-reading app, hit headlines with its clever approach to reading rapidly on a small screen - words appear in the same place, rather than your eyes scrolling from side to side. Reading 1,000 words a minute - enough to tear through War and Peace in nine hours - is easy in demonstrations (and with a little practice). It will be built into Samsung’s Gear 2 watch.



“It took smartphones years to find the apps that actually sell the gadgets,” says Bradbury. “I think it will be two years before someone finds one for Google Glass. Maybe more. Those speed-reading apps have been around for a long time, and never caught on.”

Samsung CEO J K Shin said that he hoped his Gear watch would become a “global fashion item” - but despite handing out dozens to celebrities, this has not happened.

Many of the “second-generation” devices (fitness bracelets, watches, glasses) on show this week are more subtle in their look - but no more stylish, Bradbury says.

“I am the sort of character who likes to have a kooky fashion item - say if I am going to a big gadget launch, I will probably find some sort of outrageous tie or something,” says Bradbury. “But there’s no elegance in most of the wearables I’ve seen before. It’s all plastic - and not even nice-looking plastic. I don’t want to wear a toy - I want to look like a grown man.”

“I am a gadget fan: I even liked Samsung’s first Gear watch. But I want a full metal Omega watch before I get into wearables.”



Many of the gadgets on show focus on fitness - but Bradbury, who himself is training for a triathlon, says that smartphone apps do the job perfectly well.

“They don’t offer a new service,” says Bradbury. “I am a mad biker, and my phone tells me everything I need to know.”

“Apps do definitely offer something - I am training for a triathlon, and the sensors in my phone are crucial to me. The fact it can access the internet and offer me the Michelin pub guide just makes it perfect. But I’ve slowly stopped Tweeting my personal bests, and sharing on Facebook - and I think wearables need to take a subtle approach.”


When the first quartz watches arrived - Seiko’s was £17,000 and aimed at the jet set - few Swiss watch brands realised the scale of the threat to their business. At this year’s Basel Watch Show, though, few brands had added any ‘smart’ functions to their timepieces.

“I have had a lot of wearables already,” says Bradbury. “And I think the Swiss shouldn’t worry - yet. So far, it’s a fad. Some day a service WILL come along and make it all work - but it isn’t here yet.”