Wear OS

Niantic Labs is the group within Google that’s behind the famed Ingress augmented reality game, but they have another app that definitely gets a lot less attention. It’s called Field Trip, and it lets you quickly and easily find places of interest around your physical location. You don’t even have to use the app yourself—it runs in the background and automatically lets you know when you’re getting close to “cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you.” Now, the app will send those notifications to your wrist…
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In a recent report, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo noted that Samsung has experienced a better-than-expected market response to its Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge devices. According to the report, Samsung is expected to raise its 2015 shipment guidance by 50 percent from 35-40 million units to 50-55 million units. Kuo says that the increase in expected shipments is mainly due to a strong showing by the Galaxy S6 Edge.

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The latest estimates from Slice Intelligence suggest that Apple sold just under 1 million units of its new smartwatch on the first day or pre-orders, an unsurprising figure considering the fact that the Cupertino company sold 74 million iPhones in Q4 2014. Knowing the number of Apple Watches sold, and assuming it’s correct, we can say with certainty that Apple sold more Apple Watches over the weekend than the combined various OEMs (LG, Samsung, etc.) shipped Android Wear devices in 2014.

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Earlier this year, it was reported that Samsung was working on a fully rounded smartwatch for launch sometime in 2015. At the time, details were sparse, but now SamMobile has shared another report with more details of the company’s device. According to SamMobile, Samsung’s rounded smartwatch will be called the Gear A and feature support for 3G data and calling.

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Arguably the best smartwatch to come out of 2014 was the Moto 360. The rounded smartwatch received solid reviews and was relatively popular. Since the device’s launch, however, rumors of a successor to the Moto 360 have been few and far between. Phandroid today reports, however, that Motorola appears to be testing a second-gen Moto 360 near its Chicago-based headquarters.

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Android 5.1 has only recently started hitting Nexus devices, and the general populace of Android device owners have still yet to see 5.0. But Google is already moving on past the latest 5.1 release, as evidenced by the appearance of Android 5.1.1 (API 22) in the Android SDK Manager.

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Amazon accidentally revealed earlier this week that this would be happening today, but we now have proof that the slip was legit: the Nexus Player has now launched on the Google Store in the UK for £79. A couple of new Android Wear accessories have also landed in the store today though, including a Sony SmartWatch 3 watch band and a standalone charger for the Asus ZenWatch.

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We’re still in the relatively early days of Android Wear, but I think those who have tried the platform have spent enough time with it by now to know whether or not it’s essential to their lives in its current form. I hate to spoil this review in the first two lines, but I know already that, for me, Android Wear is not something I really need. Put simply, it’s just not useful enough yet. From the available Android Wear devices I’ve tried, there are a couple that I think do hardware very well — the LG G Watch R is one of them. I like it so much that I want it to be a necessary part of my day, but it just isn’t there yet… here’s why.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybg5klCxQGA&

To combat the hype surrounding Apple’s “Spring Forward” event last week, Google shared a new ad focused on the variety of Android Wear devices available. The ad came in at only 18 seconds, though, and left out some variations. This evening, however, the company has uploaded an extended 1 minute version of the ad to YouTube.

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Software engineering firm ELEKS has today revealed a new app that will allow Android Wear users to control their Tesla car straight from their wrist. The app, the idea for which was spawned after they released an app for the Apple Watch, allows users to easily see the charge status of their car. This is such an important feature, ELEKS claims, that the developers made the Android Wear watch face for the app a charging screen.

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An image was supposedly posted today by Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing on Chinese microblogging site Weibo (via MyDrivers), showing what looks to be an unreleased prototype of the Moto 360 smartwatch. It’s not clear whether or not this is indeed an upcoming version of the device (it’s almost surely a prototype), but it definitely looks to be a bit different than what’s currently available…
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While Android Wear has not yet set the world alight, Google is not sitting idly by while Apple grabs all the media attention with its Apple Watch. The company has announced a deal with Tag Heuer and Intel to create a smartwatch version of one of the watchmaker’s best-selling models, the Carrera.

TAG Heuer, Google and Intel have announced a partnership to launch a Swiss smartwatch powered by Intel technology and Android Wear. The effort signifies a new era of collaboration between Swiss watchmakers and Silicon Valley, bringing together each company’s respective expertise in luxury watchmaking, software and hardware.

While the company did not go into details, Reuters reports that the watch “will be a digital replica of the original Tag Heuer black Carrera, known for its bulky, sporty allure, and will look like the original.”

Sincere or not, Tag Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver says that he welcomes the launch of the Apple Watch … 
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Last month developer Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh managed to get an Android Wear-based smartwatch to display notifications from an iPhone, even though Google’s wearable OS doesn’t support Apple’s mobile devices (at least, not yet).

A new video posted by the software dev today shows an Android Wear watch working with the iPhone’s calling function. In the video, an incoming call on the iPhone is answered using the Android watch. Abu-Garbeyyeh says he simulated the gesture to answer to phone call on the watch in software to avoid filling the video frame with his hand, but the functionality works perfectly just as it would with an Android device.

Keep reading to watch the video…

The Apple Watch was once again shown off at Apple’s “Spring Forward” event on Monday, and it looks like the Android Wear community is already putting together some watch faces inspired by Apple’s selections. Ironically, first up is the iconic Mickey Mouse face that has been the brunt of many a joke in the Android community on Google+, and it looks like the XDA-Developers user who made it did a pretty good job of replicating the real deal…

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The Apple Watch was once again shown off at Apple’s “Spring Forward” event on Monday, and many have been left wondering how the device compares to the Android Wear devices currently on the market. Technology has surely evolved a bit since the G Watch was announced, but how much have things changed?

There are several differences between the two platforms, but one that has now been brought to light is the device’s physical dimensions. Looking at Apple’s renders and images makes the device look big, but comparing its actual dimensions to Android Wear devices does the opposite. It’s tiny compared to most of what’s available today.

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Android Wear is about to receive a very notable software update, and sources who are reportedly familiar with the smartwatch operating system’s roadmap (via The Verge) say that that it’s going to include support for WiFi among several other new features.

It looks like Google might be moving Android Wear to be more app-centric…

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I love my Android Wear smartwatch—it’s a great extension to the Nexus 6 I use daily. But not many people I know have an Android Wear device, even fewer have reason to use one every day, and basically no one (outside of my circle of geeky friends) really understands why they’re useful when I try to explain what they do. My LG G Watch R is seen as cool, because I can flip between a couple dozen watch faces and reply to texts with my voice, but these things don’t really make my peers feel like they’re missing out. It’s cool, but that’s about it.

The Apple Watch was shown off again today—this time in a bit more detail—and it’s clear that the device is going to be competition to the half-dozen-or-so Android Wear devices that are on the market. It’s priced a bit higher, and that’s typical when it comes to Apple products, but there are definitely things that this device offers that Google hasn’t yet introduced. The big one—in my opinion—is Digital Touch, which Apple describes as a “fun, spontaneous way to connect with other Apple Watch wearers, wrist to wrist.”

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