Google Watch

We’ve long known that Google has been working on a watch first OEMed internally through Motorola and now through partner LG.

@evleaks has purported specs, naming a 1.65 inch diagonal display and 280×280 square resolution. Internally, you’ll have 512MB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage  – enough for some apps, MP3s and maybe a few short videos.

[tweet https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/444146030360416257]

Evleaks usually starts leaking specs within a few weeks of launch so it could mean we’re getting ready to see Google’s hand (wrist?) which matches up with recent information. Late last week, Google’s Android and Chrome head Sundar Pinchai announced that Google would launch a wearable SDK within a few weeks so the stars are certainly starting to align. The plan appears to be as follows: have the SDK out in March and a product available at Google I/O in June.

Late month, Samsung announced its second iteration of Galaxy Gear smartwatches, running on Tizen — not Android. Rumours about Apple’s ‘iWatch’ product also continue to swirl, with a seeming focus on health and fitness.
Expand
Expanding
Close

As we look to the end of 2013 and turn around to see the Google of the last year, we know it’s been a good year. Forget concerns over Google’s purchase of Boston Dynamic’s Robotic program and the joke notion that Google and Skynet will eventually be one. This is a company that surpassed the 1,000 share price in the stock market and brought Google Glass to market as a new form of wearable technology. With these stories and more in mind, let’s take a look at the top 5 Google stories on 9to5Google in 2013. These stories were selected in order by the amount of traffic they had in a single 24 hour period and don’t necessarily reflect the importance of the story itself. In other words, these are the stories you read the most over the course of this year.

Expand
Expanding
Close

While the report is a little bit on the light side with specific details regarding the product, a new report from AndroidAuthority claims that a source has revealed details about a Google smartwatch as well as new updates coming to Gmail and Maps apps on Android.

According to the report, which seems to provide more questions than answers, the Android smartwatch has been floating around Google offices in Berlin, Manchester, and more recently Mountain View, which it claims signals “the watch is set for release sometime soon.” The last we heard from analysts is that Google smartwatch is scheduled for 2014 at earliest, but AndroidAuthority already claims to have details on the device:

While noting that “Functionality will be very much like Glass,” the report claims Google’s smartwatch is “not a standalone device yet” and that “It needs to be tethered to a smartphone.”

We don’t expect to see a Google smartwatch on show at Google I/O this month, and the report doesn’t offer up much in the way of confident predictions for when we might. The report added that sources say Google’s Motorola will be manufacturing the smartwatch.

Also included in the report is info on updates that are apparently coming to Google’s Maps and Gmail apps on Android devices in the near future. AndroidAuthority describes redesigned apps that will apparently borrow a lot from the most recent versions of Google’s apps on iOS:
Expand
Expanding
Close