All we know about the watch so far is that it has a round face and that it has cellular radios. Also, it's almost definitely an MWC shoe-in.
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Last Android Wear 2.0 Developer Preview adds iOS support
If you've linked up an Android Wear watch with an iPhone or iPad, you'll soon be able to get apps working more easily with this major update.
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Low-res LG Watch Sport and Watch Style pictures reveal some Urbane roots
We're watching LG and Google in a couple of weeks as the two are expected to lead the charge on Android Wear 2.0. These pictures whet the palette.
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Casio WSD-F20 Hands-On: Finally the real deal (Video)
The Smart Outdoor Watch, take two.
Casio is taking a second shot at making something on your wrist that beeps, buzzes, has a compass and tells you about a new Facebook friend request. The WSD-F20 doesn’t change much from its sibling, the WSD-F10, but it is chunkier, has cellular access and integrated GPS.
The Android Wear 2.0 watch is able to figure out where you like to fish and give you time charts for when the best traffic is. It’s coming out in April.
You can bide your time with Jaime Rivera’s quick look from the CES 2017 showfloor.
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Google has two Android Wear 2.0 launch devices in the wings and a list of devices to update
How will Google steer itself in a post-Nexus era? Where it could call its phones its own (despite us knowing the original device manufacturer)?
Well, the answer is to make a couple of smartwatches and do business like it has done with the Nexus brand.
Product manager of Android Wear Jeff Chang spoke to The Verge about Google’s first two Android Wear flagship watches that will be made and solely branded by a manufacturing partner familiar to the platform — no “Google” or “Pixel” here.
In fact, he alluded to the Nexus smartphone program when talking about Google’s plot for smartwatches and argued against working with more partners for more wearables.
“We’ve enabled a lot of diversity with our hardware partners to target different types of consumers and preferences,” Chang said.
To that point, Google recently picked up staff from one of its newfound competitors, Cronologics.
That said, there’s definitely more to come from these partners in 2017. The “first-party” watches which will launch with an updated Android Wear operating system have a target launch time within the first quarter. Other OEMs will make announcements at CES in Las Vegas and at the jewelry-focused Baselworld in Switzerland late in March. We suspect that there will be a split between announcements from our “meat and potatoes” manufacturers and the more traditional and luxury watch brands. Google will back these releases as best it can.
For the rest of us waiting for Android Wear 2.0 on our current smartwatches, you can expect an update for the following products right after Google’s flagship announcement:
The update will also follow a fifth Developer Preview for the platform coming in January — a package that will feature Google Assistant and Android Pay on select NFC-enabled devices (take the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE). Android Wear 2.0 feature compatibility will be different between Android and iOS, but Android Pay will work universally.
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Fourth developer preview for Android Wear 2.0 brings more phone back into the watch
If you’re using your smartwatch as a smart replacement for your smartphone, you’re probably like many of us: not wanting to bother with our pockets so often. But alas, in the latest developer preview for Android Wear 2.0, we’ll find a few features that not only keep us tethered to our phones, but actually encourage us.
The encouraging factor? A new OAuth API that’ll give high-privilege Android Wear apps (which can soon be downloaded directly from the watch itself) one-tap approval through your Android phone or iPhone. You can even choose which Google account you’ll be using for the app.
If a standalone Wear app works better with a paired device, developers can now pop dialogues to get users to the Play Store to install the phone app.
Android Wear 1.0 apps that come pre-packaged with a general Android app will be separated. If users install the latter from the Play Store, they’ll be prompted through a notification to install it or they can head to a new section of the Android Wear Play Store called “Apps you’ve used” to download the Wear app.
Other changes include the return of the swipe-to-dismiss paradigm, the revised mapping of hardware buttons to “power,” action and navigation drawers, a curved interface and a screen burn-in protection function.
This is the fourth developer package for Android Wear’s major revision, with at least one more expected soon. Wear 2.0 was originally set to be released this year, but is currently on track to be released with Google-branded hardware early next year.
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Cronologics joins Google to bolster Android Wear 2.0 wave
One of the companies that was able to push Amazon’s Alexa voice service into a smartwatch has decided to move in with Google.
In a short note, Cronologics announced that it is “joining Google” to push Android Wear forward with new smartwatches. That means hopping on the Android Wear 2.0 train when it is currently scheduled to come early next year.
Cronologics used Indiegogo to crowdfund the CoWatch. It featured a proprietary operating system and Alexa integration.
It should be noted that the company was founded by former Googlers, so this should be a “re-join” of sorts for Cronologics.
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