Google I/O 2012 Issue: Google Glass Explorer Edition Priced at $1500

Google Glass is an effort to make computerized glasses with a touch screen as light as sunglasses. Google employees have been testing the prototypes and running with them to deliver first person experiences to friends. In other words, Google Glass is accelerating the development of what used to be science fiction.

Google Glass is real and will soon be shipping. Sergey Brin just took the stage at Google I/O, won the Internet with an amazing skydiving demo of the device and then announced that Google Glass is available for pre-ordering. Named Glass Explorer Edition, it’s available to those at Google I/O and costs a whopping $1,500. Plus, the device will not ship until next year. But Google Glass is real. This is big.

Google spent about 30 minutes explaining and showing off Google Glass at today’s I/O keynote. But it was strange. The presentation wasn’t as polished as the keynote’s other events. It felt off the cuff. As Sergey explained at the end of the event, Google still doesn’t know all the use cases of Google Glass. The company is still building not only the product, but also the philosophy behind Glass. That’s why Google is making Glass available to those that really love Google. It needs help.

Right now Glass Explorer Edition is only for the US and the device is only available for pre-order by I/O attendees. Sergey explained that there are some regulatory issues to resolve prior to International shipping.

Other Google I/O 2012 news:

The First Jelly Bean Android Tablet: Google Nexus 7

Focus on Google I/O 2012: Google Nexus Q Streamer the Small Ball Rocks Your World

T-Mobile's Samsung Galaxy Note Leaked Press Shots Leaked, is Bound to Kick off on July 11

We've seen plenty of evidence over the past few months, and it is just recently approved by the FCC for a U.S. release. The Samsung Galaxy Note appears to on schedule for its rumored mid-July release at T-Mobile, as leaked images of the device have shown up sporting this carrier's logo.

The latest news claims that the T-Mobile Galaxy Note will be available July 11. The phone will reportedly come with HSPA+ on T-Mobile’s 850/1900 bands. T-Mobile will apparently release the phone/tablet in the navy blue version. At this point it's unclear what this carrier's price will be. Samsung's mobile head JK Shin today predicted that Samsung would hit a cumulative 10 million Galaxy Note sales by July. That would be on par with the 5 million units sold in five months on the market.

Samsung Galaxy S3 (download video to Galaxy S3) is unveiled not long before. We hope that the new Samsung Galaxy Note phone/tablet will surprise us with something stunning.

More about the Samsung Galaxy Note

This product's 5.3-inch, 1280 x 800, Super AMOLED Touchscreen (it is perfect to enjoy video on Samsung Galaxy Note) makes it a hybrid device, both acting as a tablet and a smartphone. Internally, the Note features a dual-core 1.5GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. Some versions of the handset have 16GB of internal storage, while others have 32GB. All have a microSD memory card slot for additional capacity.

This model debuted last year running Android 2.3, but a recently-released upgrade brings it up the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, Android OS 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Other features include a rear-facing 8MP camera, 2500 mAh battery, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS among others.

The Samsung Galaxy Note has been a success; so far, over 7 million units have shipped. It's apparently sold well enough that Samsung is working on a successor that will have an even larger touchscreen.