Android Wear 2.0 is now official, launched alongside two new LG smartwatches

[William Gayde]

Google has officially launched its Android Wear 2.0 upgrade today. There have been small incremental updates to the first generation OS along the way, but this is by far the largest upgrade since the operating system's launch in 2014. Wear 2.0 was announced last year at Google I/O in May, but after a few developer previews the release has been delayed for months. Today's launch also comes with two new flagship devices from LG.

The new LG Watch Style ($249) and LG Watch Sport ($349) use rounded P-OLED displays powered by the Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC, 4GB of internal storage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, wireless charging along with dust and water resistance.

Android Wear 2.0 brings improvements to material design, Android Pay support, fitness tracking, notification updates, new watch faces, and brand new standalone apps. Overall, the new user interface replaces complex gestures with more intuitive swipes and presses. Google Now can be launched right from the watch with the push of a button. Other new home screen features include support for 3rd party elements like stock tracking, weather, and favorite contacts.

Google has had to face some fierce competition in the fitness tracking market, so this was another key addition for the upgrade. GPS enabled watches no longer require a phone for location tracking, and Google Fit can automatically detect your workout and give you tips along the way.

Smartwatches have historically been good for viewing notifications, but not exactly the most practical for actually replying to them. Wear 2.0 introduces new response features to hopefully change that. The new Smart Reply feature generates generic responses based on the app you're using. This means replies to a business email will be different from a text to your buddy. If the canned replies don't fit what you're trying to say, you can always dictate your response or try the new swiping keyboard and handwriting recognition system.

Android Pay has received new integrations to compete with Apple Pay. NFC-enabled watches, of which only one available model exists, can now be used at smart point-of-sales stations. It still takes time to load the app and confirm the payment, but if can save you if you're caught without a wallet, so look for better adoption of this feature in the near future.

The final key improvement, and possibly the biggest from a technical perspective, is the addition of standalone apps. With Wear 2.0 you can install apps directly onto the watch itself without the need for a phone.

The update to Android Wear 2.0 is a big one, improving on just about every feature previously available. Noted, there are a few bugs at launch of course, but once time settles on the new software and newer hardware is released, we'll be able to see how the new breed of smartwatches fare on the market.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/68086-android-wear-20-now-official-launched-alongside-two.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Smartwatches still exist? I thought that silly fad died a while back.

 

[Panda218]

I hope my Moto 360 Gen 2 gets the upgrade as I likely won't buy another smartwatch in the near future.

 

[BSim500]

Someone wake me up when they come with a 10 year battery life for $20 and I'll consider it an upgrade from 1990's dumb watches. Fitness apps aside, the rest is just "a phone without the phone" unnecessary duplication of what you've been (and still are) carrying around in your pocket for years.

Even the "need" for fitness is way overblown. Most people serious about keeping fit will already be doing it with nothing more than $5 pedometers (and after a while they don't even need them as they've gotten used to gauging how far they run mentally, and even "feel" what their pulse rate is). This "constant monitoring" stuff seems aimed more at "Yuppies" more interested in wanting to be seen by peers to keep fit rather than actually doing so. That's why people who loudly tweet they've just bought several hundred dollars of monitoring equipment are always waiting for an appliance / device of some kind that will "let" them start (and then another, and then another...), but never seem to last more than 4-6 weeks once the "new gadget novelty" has worn off...

 

[Badonk4]

Smartwatches still exist? I thought that silly fad died a while back.

In the future smartwatches will tell you the time.........................That you have left. Lmao.

 

[fktech]

And smartphones

Smartwatches still exist? I thought that silly fad died a while back.

In the future smartwatches will tell you the time.........................That you have left. Lmao.

And smartphones will work as a phone.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

And smartphones


And smartphones will work as a phone.

True. I've heard that the least used feature on a smartphone is the phone itself for a lot of users. For me it's otherway around.

 

[Kibaruk]

True. I've heard that the least used feature on a smartphone is the phone itself for a lot of users. For me it's otherway around.

Long live whatsapp calls (I do a lot of international calls).

 

[Tinderbox]

Whatever Apple does, I guess Android has to copy even if fanboys made fun of Apple's original idea.

 

[Tanstar]

Whatever Apple does, I guess Android has to copy even if fanboys made fun of Apple's original idea.

Huh? Android smart watches came out well before the iWatch.

I love mine for three reasons: Looks great (LG Urbane), can tap it, say "Okay Google, call (name)" while driving and my phone is in my pocket and it calls the right number 5x as often as my car's voice recognition (and is already fully paired), and for checking texts and calls while in a meeting without pulling my phone out. They aren't for everyone, but for some of us they've become indispensable.

 

[Tinderbox]

Huh? Android smart watches came out well before the iWatch.

Interesting! I wasn't aware of the technology until Apple started pushing theirs. I just remember all the criticism at the time. It felt like a technological step back to me. I mean,watches, really? I thought the smart phone had killed the watch. Interesting that the watch is returning now as primarily a peripheral device rather than just a time keeper.

 

[Tanstar]

Interesting! I wasn't aware of the technology until Apple started pushing theirs. I just remember all the criticism at the time. It felt like a technological step back to me. I mean,watches, really? I thought the smart phone had killed the watch. Interesting that the watch is returning now as primarily a peripheral device rather than just a time keeper.

Yep. I hadn't worn a watch in years, but now use it as a watch and to quickly check on texts, calls and other notifications. It's great when you're in a meeting and need to decide if the call coming in is worth the disruption you'd cause by pulling the 6 inch phone with case out of your pocket. It's not for everyone, but there is a niche.