Android Wear 2.0 Is Here, Changes Explained

With time and crossing many developer previews, Android Wear 2.0 is finally here and has been made official by Google today. This new iteration of Android Wear comes in with many changes and will take the user experience to a whole new level.

Let's quickly jump into the changelog and see what Google has to offer this time with the Android that you wear on your wrist-

Google Assistant

The first and foremost thing that was expected is now integrated with this new update. Google Assistant is now available in Android Wear 2.0 which will allow users to interact with the most advanced AI in the present time. It will come handy as having such helpful & informative assistant at your wrist will definately save much time and you don't need to look for your phone everytime you need an answer from Google. To trigger it, all you need to do is, actively press the power button of your smartwatch and voila! assistant at your service.

Improved Watch Faces

Watch faces are something you cutomize the watch screen with various designs (faces) to choose from and this time they are improved alot, why, because they now allow you to implement shortcuts on them. As shown in the gif above, you can see the watch face contains a contact shortcut named Ali Connors (been there in most of the demos from Google) and you need to just tap on it and the call starts. Moreover, they now have categories for home, office etc. to best suit the atmosphere you are in.

Message Response Improvements

Well, with Nougat, the message responsiveness on Android has changed alot and now for watches, Android Wear 2.0 will do the same. Message response has been improved with 'Smart Replies' which will suggest users with some auto replies they can send with a tap. Other than that, when a message notification pops up, user can swipe down and choose the reply method to be Dictating, Typing, Handwriting or simply by drawing and emoji. Sweet isn't it?

Make Way for 'Google Play'

Ya so, finally Google Play will now be accessible for smartwatches thanks to this update. Users will be able to install the apps directly to their watches which will futher add into quick tasks areas for users.

Well, this is a step forward for smartwatches and rest can be known when the update comes handy to a large set of users. Google has however made it clear that some features require hardware sensors, so the performance will depend much on the watch you're working with.

These are the watches that will get the update first-

Source

Rajat Kapoor

Rajat Kapoor is a self confessed tech geek. Always up to date with what's going on in the tech world, he is currently pursuing MCA and prefers Android over iOS. You will see his articles here and we do hope that you find them useful and informational.