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Android Wear 5.0 Lollipop leaked showing new watch face API, brightness settings, accessibility features

As we told you about earlier today, Phandroid seems to have gotten their hands on some unreleased Google software, and the leaks started with a new Material Design overhaul for the Android Wear companion app. This afternoon, we’ve now had a chance to peek at some of the more interesting ins and outs of the upcoming Android 5.0 Lollipop overhaul for the Android Wear OS, and with it is coming the long awaited watch face API, new brightness and accessibility features, and more.

The watch face API is probably the biggest change coming with the next version of Android Wear, finally giving developers an official means of making faces for Android Wear. New watch faces taking advantage of the update will be able to do a lot more than they could before, such as provide weather update information directly on the face. These screenshots show weather icons that are a part of the update (below), as well as 16 watch faces (above) that have been designed to fall in line with the new cleaner Lollipop aesthetic.

 

Also coming with the new update is quick access to two new brightness modes: theatre mode, and sunlight mode. Some clunky apps for adjusting Android Wear brightness have been available for quite some time, but it was apparent that Google needed to give some more attention to the fact that watch brightness is kind of important. Currently, the swipe-down screen on Android Wear is fairly simplistic, but with Lollipop you’ll be able to access these brightness settings as well as a new Settings button and the current date.

The main launch screen (the one that appears when you say “OK Google”) is also getting a revamp with the Lollipop update. Now, the menu will sort actions based on which ones you use the most, giving you quick and easy access to commands that would otherwise be effectively hidden.

Finally, a slew of new accessibility settings have been revealed, making the operating system easier to use if you have a disability of some kind or simply need a bit of help getting around. Of the new options—which you can see in the screenshots below—are large text, color inversion, and magnification gestures.

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Avatar for Stephen Hall Stephen Hall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.