Android Wear
So here we are with Android Smart Watch platform
otherwise Android wearables as Google would like it to be known.
Really this is an extension of the main Android operating system Android L
and really it allows developers to build their
main primary Android app but include
the Smart Watch functionality. Now this is clever. When a user installs Android Wear
their app onto a smartphone, tablet,
and if they also have their Smart Watch paired up,
a special SmartWatch app will be pulled
out of the APK and dropped onto the watch automatically.
No separate applications, you don't have to go hunting for a for SmartWatch app for Netflix
or something like that. Download the Netflix app if there's a Smart Watch component
it appears directly on your Smart Watch. That is just so cool. Android Wear
They showed a lot this tight integration between
the various bits of Android's platform here and as I've already said in previous
videos
this is really what Google IO was about this year. It was about making
all of Android's devices operate as almost like a single
ecosystem. So if I wanted to on a Smart Watch
I can dismiss notifications on my Smart Watch and they'll be dismissed on
every other device.
Likewise if I want to take control of my television set
I can do that from the Smart Watch. I can put my smartphone down, move to the
watch and vice versa. This is all really cool stuff.
You can imagine over time the power of having
well, a device on your wrist that can control any Android Wear
other Android device is a very powerful thing when we're dealing with Android TV,
Android car, Android video gaming etcetera.
All of these options are there and if you've got your Smart Watch
who knows what developers are going to be able to do? Who's to say we can't have
a virtual thumbstick
on our wrist for controlling on-screen action. These are very cool times my
friends.
Now one of the things that disappointed me with Smart Watch this time around
is unfortunately we don't really seem to have
very much in the way of cool looking hardware. Essentially the watch
everybody really wanted and still wants Android Wear
is a Moto 360. The reason, because it actually looks like a watch.
It doesn't look like you've strapped an LCD to your hand.
Now the major problem really is that we've got
two smart watches coming through initially. An LG and a Samsung.
The Samsung one guess what it just looks like a ghia, wahey.
The LG one just looks a bit like a
ghia so you're kind of just dealing with a oh look a candy bar
strapped to my wrist. That Moto 360 looks like not
only a beautiful smart watch but a lifestyle device, something people are
going to Android Wear
go have you seen my Smart Watch? People don't want something that looks like a
coloured pebble,
they really don't. They want something that looks like
a Smart Watch and a watch has a rounded
circular face. Simple as that.
Now one thing I noticed and I don't know if anyone else picked up on this but
when they did the close-ups of the actual Smart Watches
it looked very very similar to the e-ink display technology that
I think it was Qualcomm launched last year
called Toq and it's a very low-powered LCD
in effect and some of the things we were kind of seeing there, this always on,
the Smart Watch is always going to be on. You couldn't do that with IPS or
LCD technology or Amoled you simply would kill the battery too quickly.
However, what Qualcomm showed last year with their Smart Android Wear
Toq technology certainly was a display that was designed
to last for days but never be turned off.
Interesting stuff. So I think what we may very well be seeing here is
Qualcomm essentially is seeding the market with the technology that will allow
these displays to stay on
in black and white, when you touch the screen it then pops into colour.
That's pretty much what we were seeing with Toq last year. So it looks like Qualcomm will
not be coming to market with their own Smart Watch.
Instead, they'll be providing the technology to make this actually work
properly
to everybody else. That is exactly like Qualcomm. So Android Wear
how about you? Are you going to be picking up one of these new Smart Watches? Will you be waiting
for the Moto 360 to drop later this year?
Do you think smart watches and wearable tech in general are the next generation
of Android?
Do let me know in the comments and do please throw a like on this video.
Android Wear