Google Glass runs on Android, CEO confirms

Google released specs of its glasses, Project Glass, earlier this week. While it included information like the camera resolution, storage and everything else, one key piece of information was missing - the operating system.

This mystery is now solved as Google CEO Larry Page mentioned in earnings call on Thursday that Google Glass indeed runs on Android. "[...] obviously Glass runs on Android, so it's been pretty transportable across devices, and I think that will continue."

This piece of news is expected to be welcomed by developers as it will make porting apps between Google Glass and Android-based smartphone apps easier.

When quizzed about the pricing of the Google Glass, Page did not give a definitive answer but mentioned that this thing would not come cheap. He mentioned, "We don't have any news to announce there [on price], but it was clearly - I'm not sure I'll call it a luxury price, but certainly a pretty high price." Page went on to justify the price, given the "experience" of the device.

"I think that what I'm, like doing with my Glass, I think - what do people do in Glass? I really - I find that photo taking and the video, phone calling, quick messaging, directions, all to be a pretty amazing experience and that's some of the core functionality we built into the device, we're excited to really get it out to some developers and have other people create some amazing experiences with it, which we haven't thought of yet. I guess that it's still early days. But I think it's very exciting."

Google had recently revealed the specifications of its Google Glass. The Internet-connected glasses will feature a 5-megapixel camera, which is capable of recording 720p videos. The search engine giant has not disclosed the exact specifications of the display inside Glass, but did mention that the resolution will be equivalent to that of a '25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away'. Google Glass will also feature a Bone Conduction Transducer for audio.

Glass will be compatible with any Bluetooth-capable phone, however, for using GPS and SMS it requires the MyGlass companion app which is only available for smartphones running Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher. As per Google, Glass will offer 16GB internal storage space out of which 12GB will be usable and will be synced with Google cloud storage.

The company doesn't specify the battery capacity but mentions that it will offer one full day of typical use, however, it also warns that some features, like Hangouts and video recording, are more battery intensive. Glass will include a Micro-USB cable and charger.