Is Tesco's Google Glass app a fridge too far?

If you've plonked down £1,000/$1,500 on a Google Glass headset and need to speed up your shopping, you're in luck: Tesco has just launched a Glass app for browsing items at home and adding them to a virtual basket.

It syncs with the Tesco Grocery service, so you can scan items in your fridge that you're running low on and automatically add them to your list for the week. Nutritional information about each product is also available.

As is the norm for Glass apps, it can be controlled by voice too, giving you the option of shouting out your shopping list as you make your way through the kitchen or home from work.

'Early stages'

Tesco says the app is designed to complement its existing services rather than replace them - you'll need to head to a computer or smartphone to finish off your order and get it delivered, for example.

"We want to ensure we have the means in place to allow customers to shop whenever, however they want which is why we're testing the possibilities of customers topping up their online basket with Glass," says Pablo Coberly, innovation engineer at Tesco Labs. "We've intentionally kept functionality very basic given the early stages of customer use of Glass."

If you want to give the app a whirl you can pick it up now for free via Google's official portal. It requires access to the camera to scan barcodes and identify products as you shop.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.