Google Halts Glass ‘XE16’ Software Update (UPDATED)

UPDATE: Last night Google’s Sarah P. posted another update to the thread on the company’s on-going troubles with XE16:

“Hi again, we’ve fixed XE 16.1 and the patched version (XE 16.11) is starting to go out right now. If your Glass is “stuck” and you can’t get past the loading screen, please get in touch right away and we’ll take care of you. Thanks for bearing with us.”

I called Glass support first thing this morning, expecting them to be able to fix the issue. However, the Glass rep told Google is still working on a fix and will contact me via email or phone today or tomorrow “at the latest.” 

Last week, I wrote about the latest Google Glass software update, called XE16, which brings a number of interesting new features and enhancements to the popular wearable, including Android KitKat.

I’ve been waiting patiently for XE16 to hit my Glass, and it finally did yesterday afternoon…but the software has seemingly killed my device, at least for the time being. My Glass is now in an endless reboot loop, and there’s nothing I can do about it, according to a Glass support rep I just spoke with. The rep told me to sit tight, as Google is well aware of the problem and is working to resolve the issue ASAP.

Google also responded twice to a thread about the problem on its Glass Community page. Here’s the first response, from Charles M. of the Glass team at 8:22PM ET yesterday:

“Hi, I’m the Software Lead for Glass. I’ve been reading your reports of Glass not working correctly after updating to XE 16.1. While this problem only affects a subset of Explorers, as soon as we saw the reports, we immediately paused the update so we could investigate and fix the issue.

“Some of you were affected before we stopped the update, and the team and I are very sorry for the inconvenience. We’re on it and working on a solution.

“We’ll update this thread as we learn more.”

And here’s another response from Glass team member Sarah P., at 10:29AM ET today:

“Hi everyone, we’ve identified the cause of the problem and we’re currently working to patch XE16.1 to fix this issue. For people whose devices are “stuck” and won’t load, we need to work with you individually to repair your Glass. We’ll be reaching out to those who posted about this issue, but if we miss you, please feel free to get in touch with us directly as well.

“Thanks so much for your patience.”

The Glass rep I just spoke with on the phone didn’t say anything about reaching back out to me. She simply said that Google is working on a fix.

And here I was getting all excited about the new Glass software update…Bah.

AS