Google began its cross-country tour to introduce Google Glass to public consumers at the American Tobacco District in Durham Saturday. Hosted at Bay 7, Google Glass guides introduced the device, which has garnered the world’s attention in the last year and a half.

When Google announced on Sept. 26 that the Triangle would be its first stop, all 3,500 allotted spots were filled just days after the announcement was made.

Google first announced the Glass concept in April 2012, and the company claimed it invented a glasses-like tool that would allow information and images to appear in the corner of the wearer’s eye. Some regarded it as the stuff of science fiction, while others saw it as the future of technology.

When first put on, the glasses don’t appear to be functional. The blocky, clear prism in the upper right corner distorts part of the user’s vision, but it’s not until the user taps the glasses with one finger that the text comes into view.

The morning of the event, long lines filled the American Tobacco Campus, with people of all ages excited to try on the highly sought-after technology. Google Glass guides showed attendees the various features of the product before they could try it on for themselves.

The product comes in five colors: charcoal, shale, tangerine, sky and cotton. Attendees had the opportunity to wrangle with the device and try the many features of Glass, including searching the web by voice command, searching for directions, and taking photos and videos.

The company opened a contest in which users suggested uses for Glass, with the best proposal winning early access for the affordable price of $1,500.

Since that announcement, Google has distributed Glass to 10,000 people, which Google calls “explorers.” According to Emily Yudofsky, product marketing manager at Google and a Google Glass guide, explorers test the device during a period of time and provide critical feedback to the company.

Yudofsky said Google chose Durham because of Research Triangle Park and its growing reputation as a technology innovation hub.

“It’s a great place for us to let people try it, it’s an amazing city,” Yudofsky said. “We thought it’d be an amazing place to start.”

Last month, Google announced that it had selected the American Underground, an entrepreneurial technology incubator, in Durham as one of the seven Google for Entrepreneur Tech Hubs around the United States. A Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub provides direct access to Google developers, early access to Google Products and mentoring opportunities.

Devin Buell, a program manager at Google [X] and Google Glass lead, said Glass would be a paradigm shift in technology.

“Glass is in the moment, it’s designed that you’re not having look down at the screen to access messages, respond to email, do a Google search,” Buell said. “You no longer have to fish something out, it’s there, it’s instantaneous, you could use it hands free so you don’t have to type anything in, and it’s a major shift of technology.”

Buell said one of the challenges of designing Glass would be making people comfortable with the way it looked.

“It was designed to be accessible, but out of the way,” Buell said. “You look at your phone, it’s head down. What we want people to do is look up and experience the world, but have all the same features you need. That was unique, and how do you do that in a way that’s accessible and that people are comfortable with?”

José Medrano, a sophomore in physics, said he was impressed with the depth of Glass’s features.

“Overall, the entire event definitely showcased just what Glass could do,” Medrano said. “I feel like either it or its successors will have a huge effect on how we interact with computers.”

Medrano said he was particularly impressed with the built-in camera.

“The camera on [the device] was without a doubt the fastest digital camera I’ve ever used,” Medrano said. “There was virtually no lag between my giving the command and the picture being taken.”

Evan Holmes, a sophomore in materials science and engineering, said Glass’ voice commands were the most useful feature.

“I feel the more you can resist using the touchpad on Glass the better the experience will be,” Holmes said. “The trackpad is best suited for returning to the main ‘OK, Glass’ start page and sharing a picture you just took. As the voice commands develop, I see the trackpad becoming less of a primary input for the device.”

Though Glass is well out of the prototype stage, Buell said there is still a lot of work to be done before Glass is ready for the real world.

“We want to expand what we’re doing here and allow the public to interact with Glass more,” Buell said. “There has been a lot of interest and open ended questions. So this was kind of the catalyst for that. I’d say Durham was the start. We’re not sure where we’re going to go next, we’re excited to see where it takes us.”

Google has not specified an exact public release date for Glass, stating only that the product will be available to consumers sometime in 2014.