[ocdtrekkie]

I actually commented in the previous discussion about this update. (This post is technically a dupe.)

But my assumption is that someone at Google still uses their Explorer Edition, and fixed some pet peeves of their own to support newer Android phones better, maybe they added the keyboard input because they needed it, etc. And then just decided to go ahead and get it released to everyone because the work was already done anyways.

[puzzle]

At Google you just don't get something released to the public, let alone to people that paid for a device which an update could brick, on a whim. Even if someone outside the Glass team did all the code changes, they would need someone on the inside with enough permissions to actually sign and push out the OTA images.

I suspect this is a backport of work that was done to support the new Glass for Work program.

(I used to work at Google, on teams other than Glass, although I know former members.)

[ocdtrekkie]

My comment perhaps could've clarified that there was likely some bureaucracy involved in release. I wouldn't even be surprised if my hypothetical Explorer Edition user was a member of the original (or current) Glass team. But likely that it was more of a 20% thing than their job.

But I am dubious this has to do with Glass for Work, because Enterprise Edition has been out a long time, and surely has had updates long before now. It's unlikely that Enterprise Edition is still built on the archaic platform Explorer Edition is built on (Android 4.x on an OMAP processor that was already old when Glass was first released). And there is little to no reason I can fathom for Google to expend Glass for Work resources on backporting fixes to a device that's been abandoned for over three years.