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Google officially announces Android Wear update w/ offline music & GPS support, Sony SmartWatch 3 availability

android wear

Last month, Google announced its future plans for Android Wear, including an update with offline music support and GPS functionality. Earlier this week, an update started rolling out to select Android Wear devices, bringing the beginnings of those features, but now Google has officially announced the update in a post on the official Android blog.

First off, Google says that the update includes offline music support, meaning that you can finally store music directly on your smartwatch and listen to it via BlueTooth headphones and speakers, also new. This update adds the promised GPS support to Android Wear devices with the required hardware, as well. At this point, however, the only Android Wear device with a GPS inside is the Sony SmartWatch 3.

Keeping with the Sony SmartWatch 3 trend, Google also today announced that you can now pre-order the device from Verizon’s website. The carrier announced that it planned on offering the device earlier this month, but without a specific release date. Google also says that the Sony SmartWatch 3 is “‘coming soon” to the Play Store, which we’ve known for a while. The SmartWatch 3 features a 1.6-inch 320×320 display and is IP68 certified for water resistance. The device costs $249.99 through Verizon.

Finally, Google also announced today that it is expanding Android Wear app categorization on the Play Store to have eight new app collections. The full list of collections is below:

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