Glass OS

Glass OS (Google XE) was a version of Google's Android operating system designed for Google Glass. "glass-omap" Tag is used in referring to the modified Android code which can be found inside Kernel Repository.^[5] Glass OS was discontinued on June 20, 2017.^[6]

Glass OS (Google XE)

Developer	Google
Written in	C (core), C++, Java[1]
OS family	Android
Working state	discontinued
Source model	Open source with closed source components[2]
Initial release	XE4 / April 11, 2013 (2013-04-11)
Final release	XE23 / June 20, 2017 (2017-06-20)
Marketing target	Augmented Reality
Available in	Multi-lingual
Update method	FoTA
Platforms	32-bit ARM
Kernel type	Monolithic (modified Linux kernel)
License	Developer Preview: proprietary[3] Apache License 2.0 Linux kernel patches under GNU GPL v2[4]
Official website	www.google.com/glass

Release history

The following list shows the main changes happened for each update release.^[7] For more detailed release notes visit the support website.

April 11, 2013: XE4.0

Initial release.

May 7, 2013: XE5.0

XE5 updates included:^[8]

• Change to sync policy: require power + WiFi for background uploads
• Crash reporting
• Incoming G+ notifications (direct shares, comments, +mentions), including ability to comment and +1
• Incoming Hangout notifications
• Transcription of queries & messages is now wicked-fast
• Long-press to search from anywhere in the UI (no longer just from off)
• International number dialing + SMS
• Hop animation on disallowed swipes in the UI
• New On-Head Detection calibration flow
• Show device Serial Number on Device Info card
• More reliable estimation of battery charge remaining
• New recipient-list mosaic

June 4, 2013: XE6.0

XE6 updates include:^[9]

• Better photos through Glass
• Voice annotate your photos and videos when sharing
• Improvements to On-Head Detection. Please re-calibrate to enable the improvements.
• Improved cards in Google Now for Sports, and a new card for Birthdays
• Fixes for several issues

Glass OS update

Glass was updating by itself automatically over the air. Glass was checking Google servers periodically for updates. When an update was available, Glass was downloading it to the device and was installing the update all by itself. That was happening under the condition of active battery charging and a reliable Wi-Fi connection.^[10]

References

1. "Android Code Analysis". Archived from the original on September 14, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
2. "Philosophy and Goals". Android Open Source Project. Archived from the original on 2014-10-17. Retrieved 2014-12-19.
3. "Developer Preview License Agreement | Android Developers". Developer.android.com. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
4. "Licenses". Android Open Source Project. Open Handset Alliance. Retrieved 2012-09-09. The preferred license for the Android Open Source Project is the Apache Software License, 2.0. ... Why Apache Software License? ... For userspace (that is, non-kernel) software, we do in fact prefer ASL2.0 (and similar licenses like BSD, MIT, etc.) over other licenses such as LGPL. Android is about freedom and choice. The purpose of Android is promote openness in the mobile world, but we don't believe it's possible to predict or dictate all the uses to which people will want to put our software. So, while we encourage everyone to make devices that are open and modifiable, we don't believe it is our place to force them to do so. Using LGPL libraries would often force them to do so.
5. "Refs - kernel/omap - Git at Google". android.googlesource.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
6. "Glass OS was a product killed by Google in 2017". killedby.tech. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
7. "Release notes - Google Glass Help". support.google.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
8. "Google Glass Explorer Editions start receiving XE5 software update, new features". Engadget. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
9. "Google Glass Receiving XE6 Update With Massive Photo Quality Improvements - Here Is The Full Changelog". Android Police. 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
10. "Updating Glass software - Google Glass Help". support.google.com. Archived from the original on 2017-03-15. Retrieved 2017-03-15.