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Wear OS

1,462 'Wear OS' stories March 2014 - September 2015
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Wear OS is Google's wearable platform which is designed to run on watches. It's based on a modified version of Android, designed by Google, and used on many third-party smartwatches.

Wear OS is Google’s wearable platform which is designed to run on watches. It’s based on a modified version of Android, designed by Google, and used on smartwatches such as Pixel Watch, Galaxy Watch, and more.

The platform was first introduced in 2014 as “Android Wear,” before being modified until it became “Wear OS” in 2018.

As you’d expect, Wear OS is designed to be an extension of your smartphone. Notifications are mirrored to your wrist while condensed apps can be installed, both with their own independent functionality or as an extension of the smartphone app.

Where Wear OS was once found across a variety of smartwatch brands, the market has condensed in recent years. Names such as Fossil, Mobvoi, and others faded away in favor of first-party smartwatches from Google and Samsung, as other names in Android such as OnePlus, Oppo, Xiaomi, and more.

A few key Wear OS smartwatches include:

Google’s Pixel Watch is the poster child of Wear OS, with a heavy focus on Fitbit features and Gemini integration.

Pixel Watch 4
Galaxy Watch 8 Classic

You can read the latest news about the platform and its apps below.

Huawei Watch is now available for shipping within 1-2 days from Google Store, Amazon

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 17 2015 - 9:42 am PT
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If you pre-ordered the Huawei Watch, you might be interested in knowing that your order has most likely shipped. If you haven’t ordered a Huawei Watch yet, though, and you plan to, I have especially good news: The device is now available for shipping within 1-2 business days from the Google Store, Amazon, and other outlets.

The Huawei Watch starts at $350, with model availability varying between outlets. The Google Store, for instance, only offers the “Silver” Huawei Watch with a Milanese-like bracelet. Amazon, however, offers three different variants, black w/ link bracelet, silver w/ leather band, and stainless w/ stainless link bracelet, at $350, $400, and $450, respectively.

The Huawei Watch packs a 1.4-inch screen in a 42mm body and a 400 x 400 resolution screen at 286 pixels per inch. It sports 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of on-board storage, a gyroscope & accelerometer, PPG (photoplethysmogram), and a barometer. There’s also a built-in mic, with all of this powered by a 300 mAh battery.

We have lots of Huawei Watch content on the way, so keep and eye out for our full review and more.

Ford launches Android Wear app to find & control your car, but only for three models so far

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Sep 17 2015 - 5:08 am PT
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Ford has updated its MyFord Mobile Android app to add Android Wear support for its three electric and hybrid cars. The watch app allows you to get walking directions back to your car, check battery status and range, lock and unlock the car, start it remotely and check a range of stats … 
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Samsung Gear S2 likely to be released on October 2nd in US, 3G model restricted to America and Korea initially

Avatar for Cam Bunton Sep 17 2015 - 3:15 am PT
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Samsung’s recently announced Gear S2 has stirred a lot of attention for itself over the past few weeks. The sleek, round design, attractive user interface, rotating bezel and non-discriminatory Android support all sets it up nicely to be one of this year’s most desired wearables. Samsung is yet to announce when the device will hit retail stores in the States, but if a leaked internal training video is anything to go by, it looks as though the company is prepping for an October 2 release…


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: LG G Flex 2 (unlocked) $250, QNAP NAS hard drives $135, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 16 2015 - 12:49 pm PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

LG G Flex 2 silver (unlocked) 4G LTE w/ curved OLED: $300 shipped (Reg. $330) | eBay

QNAP NAS hard drives: TS-131 1-Bay $135 (Orig. $215), HS-210 2-Bay Fanless $155 (Orig. $289), more

LG G3 D850 32 GB unlocked new 32 GB: $250 shipped (Reg. $450) | eBay

Download 10 tracks of Latin Vibes for free over at Google Play

Kanto YU5 Bluetooth 4.0 Bookshelf Speakers in five colors: $250 shipped (Reg. $350)

Giveaway: Schoolhouse Electric makes the clock cool again, $290 value

More new gear from today:

This Star Wars Battlefront Deluxe bundle includes a working Han Solo mini fridge

Games/Apps: LEGO Jurassic World $38, iTunes gift cards 15% off, COD games for Mac 50% off, freebies, more

More deals still alive:

Portable Bluetooth Speakers: Bose SoundLink Mini $159 (Orig. $200), Sony SRSX3 $60 (Orig. $140)

New products & more:

Wilson��s X Connected Basketball is a simple shot tracking solution

Sony takes the wraps off a new gold DualShock controller (and other colors too)

Spotify’s Running feature lands on Android after 3 months in beta

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 15 2015 - 9:44 am PT
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Spotify Running, which originally launched on iOS a whole 4 months ago, has finally made it to Android. From today, Android users will be able to fire up the Spotify app, open the Running feature, and have the music streaming service find music that matches tempo with the pace of their jog…

It’s yet another example of Android support getting put on the back burner, but at least it’s here, right?

As per the official Spotify blog:

Since the launch of Spotify Running, millions of you have laced up and hit the road together with the best musical motivation out there.

Today we’re thrilled to be bringing the same great experience to our Android users.

With Spotify Running, we’ve combined the best music on the planet with recommendations based on your listening history, multiple-genre playlists as well as original running compositions.

Simply select your tempo and start running. We’ll match the perfect music in time to your step to help you go the extra mile.

Spotify Running has been available in the beta version of the Spotify app on Android for a few months now — it’s somewhat odd that it took that long for the feature to be graduated to the full version of the app. Nonetheless, users of the main Spotify app should start seeing the feature roll out today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fZBqV_yMq4

Elephone’s rumored Android Wear smartwatch could be part of Google’s China plan

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 11 2015 - 9:47 am PT
1 Comment

China-based Elephone isn’t known for making any high-end hardware, and besides being yet another maker of really cheap Chinese phones, they aren’t known for much of anything at all. But that might change soon, as the company is purportedly preparing to launch a smartwatch running Google’s Android Wear. And while that alone might not be all too exciting (other Chinese OEMs like Huawei have beaten them to the punch), this could — knowing Elephone’s target market — be part of Google’s bigger plan to make a move back into mainland China…
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Opinion: 3D Touch gives iPhone 6s one lead over every Android phone on the market

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 9 2015 - 1:41 pm PT
36 Comments

Apple is very rarely the first to introduce new features for features’ sake. The Apple Watch launched an entire year after the first Android Wear devices were unveiled. Touch ID came to the iPhone years after fingerprint sensors were seen on Android phones, and the company was one of the last smartphone manufacturers to offer a larger-screened phone with the release of the iPhone 6 Plus.  The examples of Apple being late to the game — although some would argue, the first to do things right — are endless. But this isn’t one of those cases. While Samsung dabbles with edged screens, Apple has today introduced what I think is a game-changing new experience for developers to play with. And play they will.

I’m not an Apple fanboy at all. In fact, I own one Apple smartphone — the iPhone 6 — at the moment, alongside five or six different Android phones. The Nexus 6 is usually my daily driver, and I (kind of, sort of) use Android Wear as my smartwatch OS of choice. I’ve never owned an Apple Watch nor an Apple TV, I didn’t even own an iPhone until the iPhone 5, and I have only been in possession of an iPad for maybe 6 months — the first generation iPad mini — before I found myself never using it at all and decided to sell it on eBay. All of this said, at least one of the improvements Apple brought to the iPhone line today has very much impressed me.

And not only do I think it’s cool, but it sets the iPhone line apart from anything that Android makers offer in 2015…
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Google posts LMY48M factory images w/ security fixes for Nexus 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 [Update: Player, more Nexus 6 images]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 9 2015 - 10:56 am PT
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Update: Google has now uploaded the LMY48N (Note: Not M) image for the Nexus Player.

Update 2: Google has now uploaded LYZ28K and LVY48F images for the Nexus 6 on T-Mobile and Project Fi, respectively.

As we told you yesterday, Google is pushing out one of its monthly security updates to the spectrum of still-supported Nexus devices. While you should start seeing the update — with build number LMY48M — showing up on your carrier Nexus devices over-the-air, Google has now uploaded the update to its Nexus factory image page for the Nexus 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10…
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Game on: Sony uses Siri-themed secret message to taunt Apple

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 9 2015 - 8:52 am PT
2 Comments

Leading up to Apple’s “Hey Siri”-themed press event today, Siri has been giving out a lot of unhelpful announcement hints to users who say “Hey Siri, give me a hint”. One of these was a binary code, which when decoded only revealed the word “Gotcha”. It goes without saying that if you want some real hints about what Apple’s going to announce, all you need to do is to read Mark’s roundup.

But Sony, the company that just last week unveiled the world’s first 4K smartphone, the Xperia Z5 Premium, has taken to Twitter to taunt the Cupertino-based company. Also using the familiar binary, Sony wrote “01000111 01100001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101111 01101110 00101110”. Converted to text? That’s “Game on.”
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HTC reportedly working on an Android Wear smartwatch codenamed ‘halfbeak’

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 8 2015 - 8:49 pm PT
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According to the well-connected Derek Ross, HTC hasn’t given up yet. Although its smartphone business is struggling more than ever, the company is reportedly working on an Android Wear smartwatch to compete with the devices we just saw announced at IFA. According to Ross’ report, the device is round a la the Moto 360 and the Huawei watch, sports a resolution of 360 x 360, and is codenamed “halfbeak”…
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Google preparing to release another security update for Nexus devices today

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 8 2015 - 9:16 am PT
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It was about a month ago that Google announced that it would begin pushing security updates to Nexus devices on a monthly basis, and now it looks like the second of those is about to be released. The Nexus factory images page hasn’t been updated yet, but several software update pages on T-Mobile’s website say that Google is pushing out a mandatory update today with “Android security enhancements” and “minor bug fixes”…

There’s definitely not much to see here, and this update doesn’t even go as far as to patch any specific vulnerabilities (in contrast to last month’s update, which very clearly intended to patch the vulnerability in Stagefright. We’ll update this post as soon as Google uploads the images, but you can also just keep up to date by checking your device for an OTA. Many of the updates sport build LMY48M, and range between 7 and 30 MB.

Android Wear and Moto 360 launching in China after strategic Mobvoi partnership

Avatar for Cam Bunton Sep 8 2015 - 7:46 am PT
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Android and Mobvoi have formed a ‘strategic partnership‘ to bring Android Wear to mainland China for the first time. This news comes days after revelations that Google is working to bring a tweaked version of Android and the Google Play Store to China. Negotiations have been difficult, and require compromises from Google, but with Android Wear officially landing, it signals the beginning of a much bigger focus on China than has been possible in recent years…


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This YouTuber got Game Boy Advance games running on Android Wear [Video]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 7 2015 - 6:48 pm PT
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We told you almost a year ago that one developer had managed to get Game Boy Color games running on Android Wear, but now someone has managed to do one better. In a recently-uploaded video shared by “Hacking Jules“, we can see Game Boy Advance games running on an LG G Watch — the oldest of the Android Wear. As usual, we in the Android community don’t need rhyme or reason for our tinkering…

As we can see in the below video, the emulator that this one particular user got running on his or her Android Wear watch is “My Boy!”, which can be found on the Play Store for just about $5. It’s pretty hilarious seeing the old Mario Kart for GBA played on a watch with a screen as tiny as this. For all intents and purposes, it’s completely unplayable. The controls completely cover the screen, and your finger would cover it more.

Nonetheless, check out the video below:

Motorola originally planned a ‘value tier’ 2nd generation Moto 360 aimed at kids

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 6 2015 - 6:50 pm PT
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We saw tons of leaks and rumors about the recently-announced Moto 360 2nd generation prior to its announcement, but none of them mentioned that the company had any plans to sell a budget-friendly version of the device aimed at kids. Now we know, thanks to a blog post on a Motorola engineer’s website, that the company did indeed plan to market such a device — a “value tier” Moto 360 made with bright colors. Sadly, the project was apparently cancelled sometime before IFA rolled around…
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Rumor claims LG Nexus 5 (2015) will be called Nexus 5X, pricing starts at $400

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 3 2015 - 10:00 am PT
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As we near the September 29 announcement of Google’s new Nexus handsets, the rumors, reports, and speculation just keep building. According to a new report out of Android Authority this morning, the upcoming LG Nexus 5 is going to sport the name “Nexus 5X,” although a “decision on the final name has not been taken yet at Google HQ.” Additionally, the phone is said to start at $400, which is $50 more than the previous Nexus 5 launched in 2013…
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PSA: Moto 360 (2nd gen) & Huawei Watch pre-orders are now live on the Google Store

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 2 2015 - 1:20 pm PT
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A slew of new Android Wear devices — many of which we knew about long before today — are now arriving at the Google Store. Specifically, at the time of this writing, you can now pre-order the Moto 360 (2nd gen), the “Moto 360 for Women”, and one model of the Huawei Watch — the silver one — straight from the Mountain View company’s online storefront. Head over and check it out…

Both of these watches were made official today. As we told you earlier, the Moto 360 has prices ranging from $299 to $499, and comes in two sizes (alongside the women’s version). The Huawei Watch starts at $349, but currently, only the $399 model is available for purchase from the Google Store. The Moto 360 is currently slated to leave the warehouse in 3-4 weeks, while the Huawei Watch is showing up as available in 2-3 weeks.

As a bonus, the Google Store listings come with the bonus of some really pretty new stock imagery.

9to5Toys Lunch Break: Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge $500, Moto 360 (2nd gen) & Huawei Watch available for pre-order, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 2 2015 - 1:06 pm PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge 32GB (factory unlocked): $500 shipped (Reg. $1,000) | eBay

Pre-orders for the new Moto 360 (2nd gen) and Huawei Watch are now live on the Google Store

9to5Toys Specials: Moto E & 1-Yr FreedomPop unlimited talk-and-text: $150 shipped (Reg. $120 + plan)

LG G Pad V410 AT&T GSM Unlocked 7-Inch 4G LTE 16GB Tablet: $80 shipped (Reg. $200) | eBay

Ringke Cases from $3 shipped: Galaxy S6/Edge, Nexus 6, iPhone 6/Plus, more in multiple colors/styles

SanDisk Ultra 200GB Micro SD card for Android devices: $200 shipped (Reg. $220+)

LG G3 D850 32 GB unlocked new 32GB blue: $250 shipped (Reg. $400) | eBay

GoPro HERO4 Silver waterproof action camera: $319 shipped (Reg. $400)

HP Chromebook 14″ 2.3GHz 16GB storage Chromebook (refurb): $200 shipped (Reg. $220+) | eBay

Amazon now offers money back to Prime members after their first Dash button purchase

Giveaway: $400 Belkin WeMo bundle including the new Lightify Starter Set, multiple winners

More new gear from today:

Games/Apps: Flick Kick Football & Field Goal go free (Reg. $2 ea), Clear Day Weather $2 (Reg. $4), more iOS freebies

More deals still alive:

Fitbit Charge HR Activity Tracker in multiple sizes/colors: $120 shipped (Reg. $150)

Healthkit-supported Bluetooth Smart Bathroom scale with BMI, more: $49 Shipped

New products & more:

Neato details its new iOS/Android connected robotic smart vac

EA announces upcoming Star Wars Battlefront beta, new gameplay modes and companion app

This is Motorola’s answer to the ‘Moto 270’ jokes

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 2 2015 - 12:02 pm PT
3 Comments

The new Moto 360 is surely right around the corner, but one thing doesn’t seem to have changed. The 2nd generation Moto 360 — which was just made official — still hasn’t managed to get rid of the dreadful “flat tire.” But according to a very informative slide snapped by our own Seth Weintraub at Lenovo’s press event yesterday, Motorola is having none of the criticism and jokes. Comparing the 360 to the Samsung Gear Live, the G Watch, and the Apple Watch, the Moto 360 wins in display-to-body ratio.

As you can see, at least according to Moto’s data, the 360’s screen has 71.7% of the front face of the watch, while the Apple Watch — probably the 360’s biggest competitor — has a measly 49.1%. Both of LG’s recent offerings come in at around the same number as the Apple Watch, but other competitors, like the Gear Live, are as low as 41.9%. With the flat tire, which sadly makes the 360’s screen a not-so-perfect circle, Motorola can achieve a much better ratio. Oddly missing, however, is the Huawei Watch…

Second gen Moto 360 is made official: Two sizes, multiple straps, Sport model

Avatar for Cam Bunton Sep 2 2015 - 11:58 am PT
1 Comment

After months of speculation and leaks, Motorola has officially launched the second generation Moto 360. Its first generation was easily the best-looking and most fashion-forward Android Wear smartwatch of its time, and this year’s models could easily reclaim that crown (if it ever lost it). For the first time, there’s also going to be a more fitness oriented Moto 360 Sport.
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IFTTT’s powerful DO Button app adds Android Wear support

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 2 2015 - 11:52 am PT
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The DO Button is a great accessory app to the powerful “If This Then That” service, and now you can use the app with your Android Wear device. Thanks to an update that’s rolling out (via Android Police) on the Play Store right now, you’ll be able to control hundreds of IFTTT-compatible apps — like Tumblr, Drive, Evernote, and more — from your wrist…

DO Buttons are simplified, quick one-tap access to your IFTTT recipes. For example, paired with a Nest thermostat, you can create a recipe that sets your home’s temperature to 72 degrees. These have long been accessible via the Android and iOS apps, but today’s update will put them on your watch. Also, the update packs support for new channels.

Here’s the full change log:

Introducing DO Button for Android Wear!
Designed for simplicity and ease of use, DO for Android Wear places the control of hundreds of apps right on your wrist.
+ New Channels include: Adafruit, Amazon Cloud Drive, Camio, dondeEsta Family, iSecurity+, Wattio, Wolfram Data Drop
+ A few wrinkles were ironed out
—The IFTTT Team
If you want to grab the update, just keep your eye on the Play Store listing. The app is free, of course, and the update should be rolling out now.

 

Huawei Watch finally available to pre-order, ships September 17 from $349

Avatar for Cam Bunton Sep 2 2015 - 6:38 am PT
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Huawei has finally confirmed officially where and when we can get our hands on its Android Wear smartwatch. The Huawei Watch was originally shown off at MWC in Barcelona, back in February. Now, at long last, you can pre-order it with prices ranging from $349 to $799. Huawei confirmed in a press release this morning that its devices are going on pre-order today. Customers in the US can purchase them from Amazon, Google Store and Best Buy.

Huawei Watch will come in stainless steel, black and rose gold-plated case options. The smartwatch features a 42mm metal case with standard 18mm lugs and a round face. What’s more, the physical button (much like the upcoming Moto 360) is placed at the 2 o’clock position. It’s built from 316L stainless steel and the 1.4-inch, 400×400 AMOLED display is coated in sapphire crystal.
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ASUS ZenWatch 2 to cost around $170, available from October

Avatar for Cam Bunton Sep 2 2015 - 4:25 am PT
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ASUS gave us an early sneak peak at its next generation ZenWatch a couple of months back, and today at IFA in Berlin, the company officially announced pricing and availability details. ASUS has stated that the ZenWatch 2 will be available in two sizes from October, with pricing in Europe starting at roughly €149 (approx $170) for the large 49mm model while the smaller, 42mm model will seemingly cost more at €169 (around $190). Screen sizes are 1.6-inches and 1.45-inches respectively and they’ll be available to buy from October.

Although different in size, both 49mm and 43mm watches will feature the same resolution 320×320 AMOLED display with a pixel density of 277ppi. What’s more, they both ship with Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi support, a Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB storage. It also ships with a redesigned magnetic charger in the packaging and could last up to two days on a single charge.

You get a choice of three metallic colors: rose gold, gunmetal gray or silver, and the cases are compatible with standard watch straps, meaning you’ll be able to attach standard 22mm watch straps to the large and 18mm watch straps to the small model. We don’t know US-specific pricing yet, but will update once it’s available to buy in the States.

Yet another Moto 360 press render image surfaces, possibly shows gold-plated models

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 1 2015 - 9:10 am PT
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The original Moto 360 in champagne gold

The Moto 360 leaks just won’t stop. We’ve seen images front, back and all-around of the smaller Moto 360S and larger Moto 360L, but now Evleaks (by the way, didn’t he retire or something?) has shared images of what could be one of the more expensive Moto 360 variants. They’re probably not Apple Watch Edition-level expensive, but more likely close to the price range of the Huawei Watch (another Android Wear device that’s slated to have its availability and pricing detailed at IFA).

As you can see above, there looks to be at least a couple of what are assumably gold-plated models in both the “small” and “large” sizes. As we told you yesterday, the small device is slated to have a 42mm body, while the large is expected to sport a 46mm case. All of the above watches have link bracelets,but Motorola could still offer these with a leather band, perhaps through Moto Maker. We saw a lot of watches leaked in renders yesterday, but none of them looked quite like the gold ones above.

Based on an image we shared with you earlier today, it seems Motorola is prepping to show off the Moto 360 on September 8th. We’re on the ground in Berlin already, and we’ll be keeping you up to the minute on the latest in the world of Android, Android Wear, and anything else that might catch us by surprise over the next week.