Latest Glass update offers improved contact management and more control over messaging

By Trevor Mogg August 21, 2014

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Glass. Maybe it’ll land one day, eventually, at some point. Until that day comes, Google will continue to push out software updates offering new functionality, while tweaking existing features so that when the wearable gadget does finally make it onto the faces of the masses, it has a decent chance of becoming a hit.

On Wednesday the Mountain View team behind the device announced details of XE 20.1 – that’s the name of the latest update – which brings with it a variety of improvements, many the result of feedback from its growing army of Glass Explorer testers, now located on both sides of the pond.

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First up, the Glass design team has reworked the way its high-tech specs handle a user’s contacts. When the update rolls out, presumably in the coming days, users will have access to 20 of their most recent phone contacts via voice command, while the rest can be pulled up with a single swipe on Glass’s touchpad.

Related: Take a tour of one of Google’s hidden, strange Glass stores

In a post on Glass’s Google+ page announcing the software update, the Mountain View company said it had also responded to users’ requests to have more control over messaging people, so now when you tap on one of your contacts, “you can swipe between Hangouts, email or SMS – whichever strikes your fancy at that moment,” the team explained.

Android users will be good to go as soon as they load up the latest update, while iOS users require the latest MyGlass app, which the team said will be made available “in the next week or so.”

For more details on how to get the most out of the new features offered with Glass’s latest update, check out Google’s dedicated page here.

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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