google glass interface sxsw
Photo courtesy SlashGear

The Google Glass interface has been detailed on video at the annual SXSW event for the first time. The company also showed off early native and third-party Google Glass apps including Gmail, Evernote, New York Times, and more.

SXSW Interactive (South by South West) is festival that’s been held yearly in Austin, Texas since 2007. It is a well known showcase for interactive technology, startups, and social media.

Google held developer presentation yesterday to detail the Google Glass interface and third-party apps in public for the first time. I’ve tracked down some footage of the demo which you can see below.

Google Glass is an exciting forthcoming wearable display produced by the company’s semi-secret ‘Google X’ lab. Units first became available for pre-order to attendees of the Google IO 2012 conference for $1500. Recently Google ran the #ifihadglass contest where they asked what people would do if they had Glass. That contest is now closed and winners will be picked soon. The Google Glass consumer release date is expect to be toward the end of 2013.

See also: 100 Google Glass Pictures, Everything We Know About Google Glass

The duration and angle of the available videos makes me think that Google didn’t officially sanction any video recording.

Google Glass Interface Demo

Timothy Jordan
Timothy Jordan

Timothy Jordan, who is a Senior Developer Advocate at Google, gave the presentation using a development version of Google Glass which was hacked to allow video output. He says that the Google Glass interface output that you see is much more smooth on Glass itself. Jordan showed off some basic Google Glass features like taking photos, dictating an email, translating text through Google, and navigating the interface by swiping the side of the unit.

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Google Glass appears to arrange much of its content chronologically. If you took a picture 10 minutes ago, you swipe back on the ‘timeline’ to find the photo’s ‘timeline card’, rather than looking through a photos app. Once you find it you can bring up a number of card options like share, delete, or send to a third-party app. Jordan showed how you can send a photo to an Evernote app call Skitch which sends the photo through Google to the Skitch app on your tablet, allowing you to then annotate the photo on the tablet.

Some timeline cards can be organized into ‘bundles’ which are stacks of cards that you can dig into. Jordan showed the weather card as an example. Tapping into the bundle allows the user to see a three day forecast. Swiping down returns to the timeline.

According to CNET, Google also showed off  The New York Times, Evernote, Skitch, and Path apps on Google Glass.

See all Google Glass News

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Brady

    I can’t see the presenter in the video. How does one ‘swipe’ in this context? Is it on a phone screen tied to the glass? A gesture in the air? Eyeball movement? Other?

    • Ben Lang

      The long piece near the wearer’s temple (see the photo at top) is the touch pad. : )

  • Brady

    Thanks. What do you think – would you rather interact by touching a pad on the side or by gesturing in the air in front of you with the camera reading your finger and motions? The pad on the side thing seems unintuitive to me, but I guess I won’t know until I try.

    • Ben Lang

      I would prefer the site pad. I’m happy to look geeky by wearing them in public, but I don’t want to have to explain to people why I’m flailing around in the air!