Believe it or not, Instagram works on Glass. It's getting it on there that's a pain (and even then, it's not perfect, but sooo close!)[/caption]Ever since I first read that the OS that runs on Glass was a tweaked version of Android, I was curious about running real Android apps on it. As I've mentioned before, what Google calls Glass apps aren't apps in the traditional sense at all, but services. Sadly, many Glass devs are accepting of Google's misnomer and now refer to Android apps running on Glass as "native" apps, when really they should just be called "apps." But whatever. The point is, Glass is still cool and it's even cooler when you run real, full-featured apps.
So, last Saturday, I set about learning how to sideload and that's when things got interesting. But there was a complication I overlooked. Even if I could get the Ustream app to sideload and run (as indie-journalist Tim Pool has), how could I log in without a way to type in my login credentials? Whoops.
Well, this wouldn't be much of a post if I didn't work out how to do it. That said, keep reading to find out how I did.
WARNING: While some in the media call this procedure "hacking Glass," I call it "following instructions" and "standing on the shoulders of better devs than myself." Seriously. To learn how to do this, all I had to do was do Internet searches for what I wanted to do and do what others have already done. Well, almost... I did have to get creative with entering text, since most folks don't seem to mind dropping cash on Bluetooth keyboards (and then adding said keyboards to the gear they carrying around) when they don't really have to.
WARNING MARK 2: After doing everything you are about to read, I discovered that system sounds on my Glass became very quiet. For a few days, I thought they simply weren't playing. No swipe or tap sound effects, no chimes chiming when I take photos or shoot video or when new content arrives. But while troubleshooting, I discovered, I could hear them, but incredibly faintly. I can live without all of these sounds except for that new content chime. Since the Glass display doesn't turn on automatically when new content arrives (like I think it certainly should) I have to rely on the chime to let me know when new content arrives. I don't know what caused the audio volume to drop so much, but I suspect it has something to do with the new settings APK I installed. The weird thing is that is some areas, the audio is fine and the microphone level isn't changed at all in any areas. I'm still debating a factory reset. I may wait for XE8, the next version of the Glass OS to see if that will fix it. I may not.
DISCLAIMER: BY CONTINUING TO READ YOU AGREE THAT YOU CAN'T HOLD ME RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOUR GLASS. I am telling you what I've done and how I've done it for research purposes only and describe only my own experience. I hope things work as well or better for use than they did for me. However, you might just get really unlucky. I hope that doesn't happen, but if it does, it's not my fault. Keep reading if you agree.
