Sergey Brin Thinks Smartphones are ‘Emasculating’

TED’s Chris Anderson, left, and Google’s Sergey Brin discuss Google Glass at TED 2013. (James Duncan Davidson / TED)

Google’s Android platform is no doubt one of the most popular mobile operating systems and a big source of revenue for Google, but the experience of using smartphones doesn’t entice Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

Speaking at the TED Conference today in Long Beach, Calif., Brin told the audience that smartphones are “emasculating.” “You’re standing around and just rubbing this featureless piece of glass,” he said.

Well, the Google Glass also requires a fair bit of rubbing and moreover, it has fewer hardware features than most phones. But Brin said they improved on smartphones in certain ways, particularly in having a camera ever-ready to start snapping pictures.

During his TED talk, Sergey Brin said the ideal search technology would surface information before a person had to ask for it, and that he has been working on the problem for 15 years. He thinks that the Google Glass is the first form factor that can deliver that vision.

This is how the Google Glass will work:

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During the last two years Google has made significant strides in making Glass more comfortable and attractive, Brin said. The original version was “like a cell phone strapped to your head,” he said.

Everybody is waiting to have one of these in their hands, oops, on their eyes. The price is expected to be below $1500 but an official announcement hasn’t been made yet.