Google Glass Hidden Labs Give Rooted Users Wink And More
Google Glass Explorer Editions are a developer's wonderland, full of little secrets we probably won't see – in part, at least – in the regular consumer edition. Some Easter eggs and various hidden features have already been discovered, and now the folks over at Android Police have itemized a whole host of them that are available via Glass's hidden labs, including a simple change for getting Wink, browser support (kinda) and more.
Using a rooted pair of Glass and some ADB commands, users can get their hands on quite a few features that are integrated into the frames but not available by default. Some of them work well, while others are a bit spotty. One such feature is an easier-to-get enabling of the Wink feature we've seen before, allowing device owners to snap a picture with a deliberate eye wink – no sideloaded app necessary. It is said to work very well when enabled via this manner.
Another is "OK_GLASS_EVERYWHERE," which is a fairly self-explanatory name, letting users evoke "Ok Glass" pretty much wherever they want rather than just the Ok Glass screen, which is limiting. Enabling this means the device is always listening – not in the sense of eavesdropping on your private matters, but in waiting for a command to come its way. There's no word what having this enabled might do to your battery life, however.
In terms of the more spotty features is the "WEB_BROWSING" line, which – don't get your hopes up – doesn't fire up the ability to browse the Web. Instead, it pulls up the ability to complete the desired action using a browser, which you'll have to install yourself since Glass doesn't offer one. The folks at Android Police put on Chrome, and report that while it does start to load a website, the Glass user interface takes over again within seconds. What it does show is a potential project for a developer to get elbows-deep in.
Those three aside, there are a host of others, including a peek at video stabilization listed as "VSTAB," which is interesting in light of Sergey Brin's statement to us earlier this month that the company will be rolling out a solution to the video shakiness issue that results from head-mounted cameras. The feature, sadly, doesn't stabilize videos right now, but it does show that digital stabilization is in Glass owners' future.
SOURCE: Android Community