Wear OS

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Motorola is set to unveil a variety of new products tomorrow morning, but the Wall Street Journal posted its video review of the Moto 360 a tad too early, giving us a more in-depth look at the watch before its public unveiling tomorrow.

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After several teasers over the last couple of weeks, ASUS has officially unveiled its Android Wear-powered ZenWatch. This sleek little smartwatch may be similar to other offerings on the market, but it’s refreshing to see something like this from ASUS…

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Following Samsung’s event earlier today, it’s now Sony’s turn to take the stage at IFA in Berlin and to kick things off the company just announced its brand new Android Wear-powered SmartWatch 3 and a new “SmartBand Talk” with a “curved, always-on- e paper display”:

With GPS and 4GB storage memory built in, SmartWatch 3 supports Android Wear by Google to not only deliver useful information and services based on the user’s latest activities, but also enable communication and entertainment including music to be enjoyed remotely, even when the user is away from their smartphone. Meanwhile, SmartBand Talk is equipped with a curved, always-on e-paper display, to enable hands free calls and voice commands. Its intuitive voice controls enable users to instantly check their Lifelog status with just a glance of their wrist. 

This will be Sony’s first Android Wear device following Google’s introduction of the platform earlier this year, and the hardware also gets a bit of an upgrade with a new 1.6-inch 320×320 transflective display. The SmartBand Talk, on the other hand, is more of a life/fitness tracker than a full-fledged smart watch, but also includes a mic and speaker for voice commands and calling. The new wearables will also work with a new Lifelog app:
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ASUS has officially launched its much-teased ZenWatch at IFA in Berlin, revealing that the rectangular smartwatch has a curved face, a brushed stainless steel body and a leather strap – but is pricier than expected.

Specs are pretty much as expected and in line with the Samsung Gear Live and LG G Watch: an Android Wear device with 1.63-inch 320×320 AMOLED display, 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 chip, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage and a fitness functions. The watch is waterproofed to a relatively weak IP55 standard, defined as resistant to water jets but not full immersion … 
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As reported by Taiwanese publication Focus Taiwan, the CEO of Asus Jerry Shen has reportedly said in a media briefing that the company’s upcoming ZenWatch Android Wear-powered smartwatch will indeed be shipping at a price point below $200. Shen also mentioned that—as expected considering the device runs Android Wear—we’ll be seeing English-enabled voice recognition when the device goes on sale in October.

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Let’s be clear off the top: there is no Instagram for Android Wear. At least, not yet. But if you are curious what it might look like, interaction designer Aleksandar Nikcevic has created a beautiful mockup of what could be Instagram for Android Wear on a Moto 360 smartwatch. 
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ASUS recently teased its new smartwatch by showing off some renders and today the company is turning things up a notch by releasing a brief preview video of its new timepiece. At just over a half a minute long, the quickie trailer doesn’t show much, but it does reveal that the watch will be called the ZenWatch, completely removing our Transformer theory out of the equation.

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Last week ASUS confirmed that it will unveil its new smartwatch on September 3rd at IFA in Berlin, and today the company shared a glimpse of what we can expect to see next week. Taking to its official Facebook page, the Taiwanese electronics maker posted sketches of  of its forthcoming smartwatch. Accompanied by a quote from Khalil Gibran, that was used last week to announce the device’s IFA event, the image’s text reads: “Time has been transformed, and we have changed.”

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Motorola and LG aren’t the only ones working on a smartwatch with a round face, Samsung is also in the process of developing a next-gen timepiece with a more traditional appearance. According to the folks at SamMobile, the South Korean electronics manufacturer is gearing up for the release of a new round smartwatch with cellular connectivity.

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Rumors have been swirling for the last few weeks that LG was prepping to unveil the second generation G Watch at IFA, but most accepted that this was preposterous given how we’re only a couple of months into the first version’s existence. But it appears that while LG probably doesn’t have a second generation square watch ready to be unveiled next week, they do have a round watch to show us that will conveniently steal much of the Moto 360’s spotlight.

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[tweet https://twitter.com/ASUS/status/501668895074181120/]

ASUS has officially confirmed that it will be unveiling its Android Wear smartwatch at the IFA next month, with a teaser tweet showing a smartwatch face displaying the quote “Time has been transformed and we have changed” … 
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Android Wear is definitely getting a lot of attention over in Mountain View, and the company behind what has easily become the current top-dog smartwatch platform is now trying to make it even more clear why you need Android on your wrist. The LG G Watch and the Samsung Galaxy Gear are already out and making waves in the industry, and with the Moto 360 not far off—and presumably the competition as well–it seems as if Google is now ready to make sure you’re aware of all the great things Wear can do for you.

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LG’s G Watch and Samsung’s Gear Live

When Google unveiled Android Wear, it said that ASUS was among the partners signed up to release a wearable device, but since then, both companies have been quiet on the matter. In June, rumors started circulating that ASUS was working on a smartwatch that would be low-cost and appealing to consumers. Now, according to quotes from Focus Taiwan, ASUS may launch its Android Wear device as soon as next month at IFA next month.

ASUS CEO Jerry Shen told an investors’ conference Tuesday that his company could debut its smartwatch as early as September at the IFA electronics trade show in Germany, with aggressive marketing efforts to promote the device.

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Earlier today, Motorola started sending out invitations for what appears to be an official launch for the Moto 360 and a few other devices. Almost immediately following the company’s announcement, emails started rolling out to I/O attendees who were told that they’d receive Motorola’s first Android Wear-powered smartwatch after its release.

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[youtube=http://youtu.be/CZrGDo9Grgk]

Google has just posted four new Google Wear ads to its YouTube channel that show off the device in every day situations. Compared with the mostly technical videos Google has posted for its Android Wear wearables platform thus far, the commercials look a lot more like TV spots aimed at regular consumers.

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In an announced by Facebook’s Ian Lake, an updated version of Messenger, version 9, will include lots of new Android Wear focused improvements. First on the list is voice replies. The update includes the ability to tap the reply button when a message comes in, and speak what you want to say. Also included is the ability to mute a conversation directly from a Wear device.

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Did you buy an LG G Watch and somehow managed to break or lose its charger? If so, your rescue ship has just pulled into Google Play. Whether you need a reserve or replacement charging cradle for LG’s new Android Wear-powered timepiece, Mountain View’s got you covered for $20.

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A beta update for the ridiculously popular WhatsApp messenger for Android has been released with official support for Android Wear, extending its wrist capabilities beyond just viewing and clearing notifications. Among the additions that are included in the update are stacked notifications, complete preview of received messages and, most importantly, the ability to reply to messages with voice.

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