Google Glass Gets Calendar And iPhone SMS Update

Google has pushed out a second update for Glass, adding a calendar feature as well as enabling SMS support for iPhone users, as the start of what the wearable team says will be more frequent updates from now on. The new features build on Glass' much-anticipated KitKat update last week, which Google says will now allow for speedier feature changes.

The new Calendar Glassware adds an agenda card to Glass' interface, as well as individual appointment cards in the timeline. Tapping one allows the title, time, location, and RSVP to be changed, or the card to be deleted or dismissed.

The Calendar functionality can be found and enabled in the MyGlass app.

Meanwhile, iPhone users with Glass now get some of the same SMS support that their Android counterparts have been enjoying from the start.

It's not entirely the integrated system, however, a limitation of what Apple will allow developers to do with iOS.

So, you can now get incoming SMS shown on Glass, by turning on the notifications for messages, but you can't actually reply to them from the wearable. Instead, you'll have to reach for your iPhone still.

iPhone has long been on the trailing foot compared to Android devices for managing and integrating with Glass, with Google only releasing the iOS MyGlass app itself in December last year. Even then, functionality is mixed, predominantly because of what limits Apple insists upon.

The KitKat update pushed out last week – XE16 – promised to bring longer battery life among other things, but also removed video calling support, much to the chagrin of some Glass wearers. Google's argument was that the little-used feature was buggy and unrewarding, and that it was taking it back to the drawing board to figure out an alternative.

SOURCE Google