Google announces Android Wear, OS for smart watches

[SAWYER]

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/18/5...android-wear-an-operating-system-designed-for

 

[poofyhairguy]

Google is working to make sure these watches aren't hideous: Fossil and other "fashion brands" will apparently offer watches using the operating system later this year.

Sounds great!

 

[bearxor]

I guess that round Apple watch render that was going around doesn't seem that unfeasible if Motorola is getting ready to release one similar.

 

[sm625]

I cant wait to see the following message on my watch: "unfortunately the process gapps has stopped working"

 

[kpkp]

:sneaky:

 

[tsupersonic]

That Moto watch looks awesome!

 

[cronos]

This is great!

Having said that, I'm sure when Apple comes out with the iWatch then that's going to be the most beautiful, useful, and innovative thing, ever :biggrin:

 

[dguy6789]

That's fine and dandy but the OS and things the watch could do weren't really the reason smartwatches sucked; it's the fact that they couldn't last more than a couple hours with the screen on.

A good smartwatch needs a full color backlit screen that is visible in sunlight or night, the screen never shuts off, and has all day battery life.

 

[Red Storm]

I am really digging that Moto 360, beautiful watch. Google Now was practically made for wearables, can't wait to try one out.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Let's see what the price and battery life is. A watch that can't make it to 3pm is useless.

 

[Red Storm]

Some more pics:

This one is supposed to be LG's watch. Not a fan of the square display, seems like lazy design (i.e. just shrink the screen and put it on your wrist):

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I'm intersted that the LG version has a black home screen.
That would let it take advantage of AMOLED tech much better if they bothered to use it

 

[MrSquished]

ooooh i like that moto version. after checking the reviews, if good, that just may well be the one that gets me into tech wearables.

 

[destrekor]

I'm intersted that the LG version has a black home screen.
That would let it take advantage of AMOLED tech much better if they bothered to use it

I'm sure the general approach is going to be customized "home screens" - at least with the choice of different watch faces.


Unless the battery life is for shit, I'm basically already sold on that Moto 360 watch.
It'll go good with my Moto X.

Damn, Motorola - this turn around of yours is looking epic. Design AND function that, all combined, actually looks and performs beautifully.

I have a feeling it won't completely replace the Moto Actv like I had hoped it would, but I may just have to adapt... I'm not seeing anything exercise-focused or watch-focused that really does it all, to include local storage and music playback alongside GPS and other sensors. I love using that on my runs, and suspect I'll need to keep it around for that activity for some time. I hate having a full phone strapped to my body somewhere. I hated strapping my old Zune HD to my arm, and that's smaller than all the smartphones out there.

If Motorola follows the same approach used with the X8 approach, the instant-on display will hopefully work really well and overall really allow the device to keep battery life realistic (I'm used to charging my phone every night - I don't want that with a smartwatch, unless it has an effortless dock with pogo pins or wireless charging).

 

[Phokus]

That's fine and dandy but the OS and things the watch could do weren't really the reason smartwatches sucked; it's the fact that they couldn't last more than a couple hours with the screen on.

A good smartwatch needs a full color backlit screen that is visible in sunlight or night, the screen never shuts off, and has all day battery life.

It looks like it's Qi charging capable so that eliminates a lot of the annoyance with battery life. It's pretty thick too, so i'm guessing it has much more battery life than the samsung smartwatch.

 

[cmdrdredd]

As was said earlier, price and battery will make or break it.

 

[Bateluer]

Looks like things are getting serious with smartwatches. With this annoucement, it almost seems like Apple has lost the watch market before they even entered it. If and when they finally do launch 'iWatch', they'll be fighting an uphill battle in a market not only defined by Samsung andGoogle partners, but traditional 'watch' manufacturers like Fossil et al.

 

[Red Storm]

One thing I like about Google as opposed to Apple and Samsung, they tend to make their services cross platform compatible. If these Android Wear devices also work with iPhones, that will be a highlight feature and may pressure at the very least Samsung to follow suit.

 

[gus6464]

Google why did you let go of Motorola. In time you would have helped them achieve wonders.

 

[Oyeve]

Hopefully they will put solar panels on the display to charge the battery, like my citizen diving watch.

 

[MrSquished]

Google why did you let go of Motorola. In time you would have helped them achieve wonders.

i thought the same thing when they sold to Lenovo.

methinks it had to with maintaining a better relationship with Samsung.

 

[Jodell88]

I'm not quite sold on these yet, but I'm very curious as to how the final product will turnout.

 

[desura]

Making it a round screen really cracks the code. This is like a smack the head "why didn't I think of that" moment for me.

Frankly, a round screen is a Steve Jobs level innovation...

 

[ChronoReverse]

I'm more interested in how code and applications handle it. A round screen is thought up by everyone but implementation is hard in both software and manufacturing.

 

[Kenmitch]

Looks like things are getting serious with smartwatches. With this annoucement, it almost seems like Apple has lost the watch market before they even entered it. If and when they finally do launch 'iWatch', they'll be fighting an uphill battle in a market not only defined by Samsung andGoogle partners, but traditional 'watch' manufacturers like Fossil et al.

I'm sure they patented every shape, size, feature one could think of already....Just sitting and waiting till the market is ripe to troll with patents.