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Has anyone here worked on a Glass app? How is the UI programmed? Does it require a special programming paradigm like VR, or are these instruction manual HUDs ba

by morley 9y ago

Has anyone here worked on a Glass app? How is the UI programmed? Does it require a special programming paradigm like VR, or are these instruction manual HUDs basically just PDF viewers?

jimrandomh 9y ago
I tried developing back when it was Glass XE. It's Android, except closed source and with a custom app replacing the home screen. It was the worst development experience I've ever had, by a large margin.
lnanek2 9y ago
Initially you could just write Android apps. Every OS release broke the standard features more and more, however, and you were pretty much forced into their special programming paradigms, yes. For example, originally swiping emulated the d-pad buttons, but that was removed. For a long time you could pair Bluetooth keyboards, mice, and trackpads, but then they broke that for a long time. It may have been added back recently. Modern era there is a "Mirror API" that's a very limited web based API for serving "cards" to the device and there's a a native SDK with a few hooks for registering for pre-selected voice commands and showing activities with various amounts of liveliness or graphics capability vs. static cards. So if you are just publishing cards with standard menu actions you can write server side only in Python and several other languages and just communicate with Google's servers. If you want a more native experience you write in Java using an SDK originally based on Android.
- glenneroo 9y ago
  Someone else posted this somewhere in here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14608894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14608894 Basically they pushed an update out a couple weeks ago (after almost 3 years of nothing) which added Bluetooth device support.
IshKebab 9y ago
I haven't written an app but I've used Glass. It's not AR. It's much more like an Android Wear watch just help up in your field of view.

by morley 9y ago

Has anyone here worked on a Glass app? How is the UI programmed? Does it require a special programming paradigm like VR, or are these instruction manual HUDs basically just PDF viewers?

jimrandomh 9y ago

I tried developing back when it was Glass XE. It's Android, except closed source and with a custom app replacing the home screen. It was the worst development experience I've ever had, by a large margin.

lnanek2 9y ago

Initially you could just write Android apps. Every OS release broke the standard features more and more, however, and you were pretty much forced into their special programming paradigms, yes. For example, originally swiping emulated the d-pad buttons, but that was removed. For a long time you could pair Bluetooth keyboards, mice, and trackpads, but then they broke that for a long time. It may have been added back recently. Modern era there is a "Mirror API" that's a very limited web based API for serving "cards" to the device and there's a a native SDK with a few hooks for registering for pre-selected voice commands and showing activities with various amounts of liveliness or graphics capability vs. static cards. So if you are just publishing cards with standard menu actions you can write server side only in Python and several other languages and just communicate with Google's servers. If you want a more native experience you write in Java using an SDK originally based on Android.

glenneroo 9y ago
Someone else posted this somewhere in here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14608894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14608894 Basically they pushed an update out a couple weeks ago (after almost 3 years of nothing) which added Bluetooth device support.

IshKebab 9y ago

I haven't written an app but I've used Glass. It's not AR. It's much more like an Android Wear watch just help up in your field of view.