Google’s Next Smart Glasses May Have Actually Learned Something From the Glasshole Days

Google’s first stab at smart glasses since Google Glass will be here sooner rather than later, and we may have just gotten our first good look at what the glasses can do.

The unexpected preview comes courtesy of a user on Reddit who says they discovered an early version of Google’s smart glasses companion app hidden inside a preview build of Android Studio. While the companion app doesn’t reveal everything, it does point to a few features and choices that make Google’s smart glasses stand out.

According to Android Authority, which pored over strings of code in the app, there are references to features like “conversation detection,” which sounds like a novel feature among smart glasses I’ve used over the past year. Basically, the idea is that the glasses can use the on-device microphone to silence notifications while you’re speaking so as not to distract you from your conversation. That’s not game-changing, but it’s thoughtful and could be nice…