Android Wear is the next big step in wearable technologies
Google announced today their operating system for wearable technologies, dubbed Android Wear, which is a pared down yet still gorgeous version of their existing OS, offering an “at-a-glance” experience for users, which currently consists of smartwatch owners.
According to Google, Android Wear is voice responsive and provides notifications at-a-glance, which appears to be set up to be a simplified version of Google Now for your wrist.
In the videos below, you can see mockups of simple options the new OS offers, but Google says they’ve forged partnerships with some of the world’s most innovative companies (HTC, LG, Asus, Motorola, Samsung, Intel, Broadcom, Mediatek, and Qualcomm to name a few) to create Android-powered watches in this calendar year that are fast, reliable, and useful.
It remains unseen whether Google will be making an actual smartwatch in the future, or powering others through their new OS. Most see this announcement as an inevitability with their innovations with Google Glass combined with the rising popularity of smartwatches. The timing is also critical as manufacturers are now choosing operating systems for their devices, for example, Samsung just opted for the Tizen OS for their smartwatches.
Enter the developer preview
Android Wear also has a developer preview for the new operating system, which serves as a guide to help them through designing their notifications so that they will actually show up on the Android Wear platform.
Google reports that Android Wear will be seen in action later this year, and we are pleased to see that they took the time and resources to make something that actually works, worrying less about being first.
You may not be on board yet with randomly talking to Google, but get ready, because homeboy on the train next to you will randomly be saying, “oh that’s hilarious,” and “buy two tickets to see The Killers,” and “I’m almost there,” and of course, “oh that sucks!” and you won’t know who they’re talking to (is he talking to me? He’s not even looking at me, but I’m the only one here, do I respond?).
