Google has just announced Android Wear; its new smart watch-focused operating system.
It was only a matter of time, but today, Google finally let rip on its latest plans for the world of wearable technology. The newly announced Android Wear is an OS tailored for smart watches and brands like LG and Motorola have come out of the woodwork to confirm that they’re already in the process of producing smart watch hardware for the new platform.
At first glance the information Android Wear-powered devices will offer up appears very similar to that of Google Glass and Google Now, letting you check the weather, keep tabs on sports scores and view travel information.
With support for voice input too, by issuing the ubiquitous “OK, Google” command, the user can also initiate search queries from the watch via touchless control and respond to messages, which is presumably the only way to input text on such devices. We’ve seen on-screen keyboards on smart watches before and they aren’t pretty to look ta or use.
One of Google’s key Android designers, Alex Faaborg said “This is just wide open blue sky territory for people” with the hope that the open platform and SDK that Google is offering up to developers will give rise to interesting and intriguing new uses for wearable devices that it hasn’t even thought of.
In Google’s announcement, the company also revealed that it’s approached hardware manufacturers and chipmakers such as Asus, HTC, LG, Motorola Samsung, Broadcom, Imagination, Intel, Mediatek and Qualcomm alongside fashion brands like the Fossil Group, suggesting more conventional and arguably more elegant smart watch designs going forward.
Developers itching to learn more about this new avenue in Google’s universe can head to the company’s developer website to find out more.
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