Google Glass turns up in FCC filing
As the company prepares to ship its Explorer Edition prototype, a regulatory filing offers some details.
Google Glass took another step toward reality today when its maker filed paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission laying out key technical specifications and certifying its compatibility with various standards.
The documents are a routine part of bringing a new wireless device to the market. They describe a device augmented by a Broadcom 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi radio and Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy. As noted by Engadget and The Verge, the application also makes apparent reference to bone-conducting speakers that deliver sound to the wearer via vibrating contact with the head.
All of this bodes well for the imminent release of Google Glass Explorer Edition, which developers were able to pre-order for $1,500 at Google I/O last June. Still, Google is keeping plenty under wraps -- the company requested 180 days of confidentiality on various aspects of their filing, including external photos, internal photos, and the user manual.
This week the company hosted an event for developers, called Google Glass Foundry, at its offices in New York and San Francisco. But media requests to observe were declined, and participants were apparently under nondisclosure agreements: a developer we contacted afterward wouldn't talk about it.