Now Google Glass will also read your messages out to you

Google has just announced a new update for Google Glass which makes significant improvements to voice notifications, calling abilities and search.

The improvements in voice notification effectively expand the gamut of what users can do just by talking to Glass. You can now tell the device to answer calls and reply to messages, and also have it read messages out to you.

Or as Google put it, “Now with Glass you can get things done without having to lift a finger. Let’s say your friend texts you. You can now say “ok glass, read aloud” to hear it and answer with “ok glass, reply.” Mom calling? Just say “ok glass, answer call.” Boyfriend away on business? Send that selfie straight away with “ok glass, share with Felix.“ #notouching”

In addition to the improvements in voice, you can tap to send a message or make a phone call to any of your Gmail “My contacts.” When you tap on “message” from the main menu, you swipe through your contacts’ profile photos and tap to send a message.

The update also improves the search interface, allowing users to get easier access to websites and information, said Google. According to the post:

We’ve been exploring ways to let you quickly dive deeper and get exactly the information you need, right when you need it. To test it out, search for something and then tap on the “View website” screen to bring up the web page.

Once you’re on the web page, there are a few ways you can explore:

Scroll – Slide your finger forward on the touchpad to scroll down.
Zoom – Slide two fingers forward or backward to zoom.
Look around – With two fingers down on the touchpad, move your head around to pan.
Click – As you look around, you can tap to select anything in the center of the screen.

These updates will be rolling out automatically to Glass over the next couple of days, the post added.

At this point, Google Glass is not available to the wider general public. It’s only available in the US and to people who have been either selected through Google’s #ifihadglass event or who pre-ordered Glass at the Google I/O 2012 conference. The device is still in testing stage.

There is no word on when it is expected to be released for consumers.