Google Glass not fully functional when used with iPhone

Google this week began shipping its Glass smart eyewear to app developers. The company also revealed that the widely anticipated device will not be fully functional when paired with an iPhone.

The smartglasses, which some buyers have already received, connects to Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth-enabled smartphones to access the Internet. This allows Glass wearers to make calls, do Google searches or even hold video chats with friends using Google+. The device can also let users send their friends text messages and retrieve directions using GPS.

But a sentence at the bottom of the webpage describing the specs for the glasses says the device, or at least the early “Explorer Edition” being shipped to developers, must be connected to an Android phone running the MyGlass app to send text messages and use GPS.

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“The MyGlass companion app requires Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher. MyGlass enables GPS and SMS messaging,” Google says online.

But the app is not available for Apple devices, and as such iPhone users will not be able to use their $1,500 Glass to send texts or have GPS functionality. Other features such as phone calls, video chats and Google searches will still work with an iPhone.

The Google spokesman declined to say when or if the app will be available for Apple devices.

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