Android Wear, Google’s wrist-based version of the Android OS, isn’t new to the smartwatch scene. It arrived in 2014 and has been improving ever since.
If you’re new to the world of smartwatches, here’s all you need to know: Android Wear makes accessing some of your phone’s handiest features as simple as looking down at your wrist. It primarily acts as a companion to amplify your phone’s notifications so that you don’t need to dig around in your pocket just to see that someone liked one of your tweets.
But, it can handle more complex tasks on its own, too, such as navigating via Google Maps, and streaming music straight to your set of wireless headphones. If you’re the kind who likes to talk to your technology, you’ll be right at home with Android Wear, which can set reminders, alarms, and can scour the web to find the answers you’re looking for–all with your voice.
Android Wear’s recent Marshmallow update puts in on par with the smartphone wing of Google’s operating system, and even borrows some of its spotlight features. First off, some new, intuitive gestures make navigating into a one-handed affair. You can now twist, shake and lift your wrist to do everything a second hand could do.
Next up, voice recognition is now supported for more than just Google’s own applications. Use WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber, Telegram, or Nextplus? You can now fire off replies with your voice. Similar to an Android 6.0 Marshmallow smartphone, you can also tweak permissions at any time on your Android Wear device. Lastly, the latest update brings the Doze feature over from the full-fledged mobile OS, albeit in seemingly limited fashion.
Google’s mobile operating system for your wrist has grown up a lot in the past few years. Sure, its progress can be tracked through the trail of devices, from its clunky, early days with the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, to its more refined status today, held down by the Huawei Watch, Moto 360 and LG Watch Urbane.
But its software has shown growth, too. Android Wear smartwatches are slowly, but surely improving as independent devices that are worth the price. Add in the fact that Android Wear now works on iPhone, and suddenly, Google’s wearable platform has a ton of force behind it.
Today’s Android Wear is pretty exciting, what with hundreds of apps and customizable watch faces to choose from. But the Android Wear of tomorrow promises to be even better.
Since the introduction of Android Wear, manufacturers have been using the same, rather antiquated hardware: the Snapdragon 400, the same quad-core chipset that powered the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One M7. From the Moto 360 to the Huawei Watch, today’s smartwatches are thick and a bit sluggish as a result, but the chipset’s worst trait is its tendency to slurp down your battery like it’s going out of style.
That’s why we’re excited about Snapdragon Wear 2100, a chipset made from scratch for the smartwatch form-factor. Promising size reductions of up to 30% and improvements to battery consumption, the next wave of Android Wear smartwatches likely won’t suffer from common complaints, like “this thing is thick!” and/or “this battery life is horrible!”. And if the Nixon Mission smartwatch is any indication, we might be seeing more fully waterproof and ruggedized options available.
Installation
Downloading the Android Wear app to your smartphone is the equivalent of winding up your watch for the first time.
This companion app bridges the data from your phone to your new smartwatch via Bluetooth 4.0 and downloads the firmware update upon its first boot, if needed.
During the setup process, the Android Wear watch will provide some tips and tricks to get off on a good first few steps.
Once the setup is complete, which takes about a few minutes, depending on how many compatible apps you’re syncing, you’ll be greeted by a short tutorial. It runs through the basics and gets you acquainted with the bite-sized version of Android.
From there, you’ll all set to explore the selection of apps and watch faces. I personally found it faster and easier to launch into the Google Play Store through the Android Wear app, as it brings you straight to the apps you’re looking for in a nice, curated view. Alternatively, you can type “android wear” into the Google Play Store and find similar results, but it’s less organized.
Interface
Moving through the Android Wear interface on a smartwatch isn’t all that different than doing the same thing on a Google Now-equipped smartphone. The touchscreen is just smaller.
The watch face is home base. Swiping up and down through the card-based menu system reveals the weather, your calendar and other pertinent app notifications that have been ported over to the watch.
Sliding your finger to the right dismisses the notifications, but swiping left will reveal different options for each app you use, digging deeper into five day forecasts and the ability to reply to a text with your voice, to name a few examples.
Part of the fun comes in exploring what each app can do. Gmail, for instance, lets you reply straight from the watch by either using your voice or some pre-baked messages. Google Play Music lets you adjust the volume and skip songs, all without checking out your phone.
Sure, there are some things you can’t do on Android Wear, like surf a full web browser, or queue up a video chat, but the “open on phone” option that’s nestled into nearly every app –except the ones that are native to Android Wear– allows you to elegantly continue where you left off on your phone.
Most of what Android Wear pushes to view is just a copy of the notifications you’re used to seeing on your phone. But it also delivers some thoughtful, personalized notifications. Traveling to a new city? It will automatically set you up with the weather there, as well as back home.
Just as slick, Android Wear figures out which sports team you like based on your Google searches and provides real-time sports scores.
It does the same for directions to addresses you’ve recently looked up or appointments in your calendar. “It’s 34 minutes to work with light traffic on the US 101-S.”
These just-for-you cards are one of the high points of Android Wear. It makes it feel like its more than just a simple supplement to your phone.
Android Wear is built to operate hands-free, which means all smartwatches respond to the simple voice command “Okay, Google.”
For this simple phrase to work, you’ll have to illuminate the watch first. This prevents innocent strangers –or more likely, no good pranksters– from hijacking your smartwatch.
Waking an Android Wear watch from its dimly lit always-on state requires either flicking your wrist like you’re checking the time or tapping on the touchscreen.
Alternatively, the Huawei Watch, LG Watch Urbane, and Moto 360 each have a power button that accomplishes the same task. The LG G Watch, which was one of the debut Android Wear devices, is buttonless, which sounds futuristic but can be a royal pain.
All options considered, “Okay, Google” is the easiest way to ask the watch to search the web, pull up a song, display your daily steps, take your heart rate, make a new reminder, navigate to a place or set a timer or alarm.
Sending texts or emails with your voice is also clutch when the voice recognition technology knows your contacts. It hasn’t quite understood all of our friends’ unique-sounding names yet, or more complex phrases. All in all, that’s okay because 9 times out of 10, “Okay, Google” returns the right results.
Watch faces
Android Wear’s 21st century functionality meets classic wristwatch form, thanks to an assortment of watch faces that tell time and other info in a variety of stylish ways.
Each Android Wear smartwatch comes with some signature, pre-loaded watch faces that you can’t get anywhere else, but they are usually nothing too special. Where the real fun comes in is logging into the Google Play Store and perusing the colorful, creative options for download.
Most watch faces are rather simple, which some are going to be more attracted to, but a select few go above and beyond in scope. For example, the sunrise and sunset-based Incremental changes visually minute-by-minute throughout the day, and Jagger shows the time in the format of an HTML hex color code, then changes the background color to the corresponding color.
The number of faces has reached the hundreds and there’s a nice mix of paid and free watch faces. Thanks to Google releasing the watch face API to developers, there is a vibrant selection to pick from. You can even find some watch face maker apps, which let you totally customize one to your liking.
Compatibility
Thanks to a late-2015 update, there’s a good chance that your smartphone is compatible with Android Wear. The platform is compatible with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and up on the Google side of things. And certain Android Wear devices can work with your iPhone, too, so long as you’re running iOS 8.2 and up.
For a complete list of Android Wear smartwatches that support both operating systems, as well as a how-to on getting things set up, check out the link above.
Android Wear smartwatches come with 4GB of internal storage by default. While this might not seem like a ton of space, you’re likely to never hit the ceiling with apps alone. However, if you enjoy offloading Google Play Music onto the watch, that’s another story entirely.
But, let’s say that you want to load this thing up with all of the best apps around. Well-known players like IFTTT bring automation recipes for connected devices, like Nest and Amazon Echo. The Guardian offers up news on your wearable if you need to stay informed.
There are countless apps available for money management, utilities that can act as a calculator or sleep-tracker, and even some games, too.
But for the Android apps that don’t have Android Wear counterparts available, don’t fret: you’ll still see the notifications pushed to your wrist. However, they likely won’t pack in all of the slick, visual elements that fully-compatible apps provide.
There are no dedicated Facebook and Twitter apps, but any interactions made with your profile (likes, messages, follows, etc.) do show up. Basically, you’re still alerted of anything that appears in your phone’s notification tray. Not surprisingly, the most clutch Android Wear apps are made by Google, including if you’re asking the watch to navigate to a place, send a text message or transcribe a simple email.
Google Maps on a smartwatch is convenient, as the watch handles turn-by-turn directions and the map and navigation automatically appear on your phone. Gone are the days when you had to clumsily reach for a dash-mounted device and awkwardly input an address. “Okay, Google, take me home” is so much simpler, especially when Google knows where you live.
Google Translate offers a fairly robust experience in that you don’t need a phone to squeeze the most enjoyment out of it. Translate works as you’d expect: allowing you to speak words to the watch, which will translate immediately. This is, obviously, valuable if you travel a lot.
Google Play Music integration is also top-notch. So long as you’re using an Android smartphone, you can choose to automatically offload your stored music to the Android Wear smartwatch, so that your music is always with you.
Additionally, you can change songs and adjust volume with ease from the watch. All you’ll need is a set of wireless headphones to get even more out of your Play Music subscription.
When we first ran a review of Android Wear, the Samsung Gear Live and LG G Watch were the only watches on the market. Thankfully, there are many more to choose from today.
Not just that, there is enough variety to please folks who want a more minimal look, as well as those who want their watch to speak for itself.
Compared to purchasing an Android phone, selecting an Android Wear watch is easier for one reason: software uniformity. Unlike Android, there’s only one “flavor” of Android Wear. They all operate exactly the same. So, you can make your choice on design alone.
Leading the charge of Android Wear is the Moto 360, which has garnered a positive reputation for its classic, sophisticated look.
It’s currently one of the few on the (growing) list of Android Wear smartwatches that support iOS in addition to Android.
Both the 2014 model and the current model rock a gorgeous design and a comfortable fit, and also operate under somewhat similar specs. Another similarity is the flat tire at the bottom of the screen, which keeps the watch face from being a perfect circle. Some love it, others hate it. We’re somewhere in between.
The Huawei Watch is a startlingly dashing Android Wear device that boasts a full-circle display, a crisp400 x 400 screen and, like the Moto 360, it offers iOS compatibility.
Compared to the other options, Huawei’s offers a unique feature, a built-in speaker, so you can take calls directly through the watch.
Sony has its hand…er, wrist in Android Wear, too. The Sony SmartWatch 3 came out relatively early in the game, but it has held up remarkably well both in terms of its looks and performance.
It comes standard in a swappable silicone body, but a stainless steel replacement can be purchased to give the SW3 a more office-friendly look.
It’s one of the few to feature built-in GPS capabilities out-of-the-box, which is useful for runners or forgetful travelers. Lastly, this smartwatch is also one of few to charge via microUSB port. There are no proprietary chargers to lose with Sony’s wearable. Needless to say, we’re pretty excited to hear about the Sony SmartWatch 4.
We’re always testing out new Android Wear smartwatches, so keep a look out for new reviews.
Android Wear isn’t a smartphone on the wrist by any stretch, but it does carry over the most important information you read everyday on your mobile device.
Being able to see notifications while not being tied to your phone that’s, say, on the charger or left in the car overnight means you won’t be leaping to the phone every other minute. It’s a refreshing luxury, albeit a pricey one.
We liked
Google’s promising wearable operating system serves as a competent second screen for glanceable notifications and apps that provide further interaction within the smartwatch.
Its most wrist-worthy feature is freeing you from the habit of digging into your pocket every time that increasingly large smartphone vibrates. And that’s awesome.
Knowing which texts messages and emails demand your immediate attention and which can be dismissed with a simple swipe to the right is almost reason enough to consider buying and wearing a smartwatch.
Android Wear has improved, not just with its showcase of devices, but in terms of software, too. Each update makes it feel more realized, and we’re excited for the Android Wear of tomorrow.
Thanks to the added iPhone compatibility, iOS users have more smartwatch options now than ever before. Sure, the Apple Watch has its perks, but cross-platform operation of certain Android Wear devices will obviously be a better option for some.
We disliked
As likable as Android Wear is in its slightly-matured phase, the smartwatch hardware and apps don’t seem to live up to the potential.
The Google Play Store is home to a growing number of Android Wear apps, but there are too few considering that you’re buying into a brand new platform.
Currently, battery life is its biggest weakness. Thanks to some antiquated smartphone hardware that’s been repurposed for the wrist, you’ll be lucky to squeeze two full days out of any Android Wear device.
While we expect this low-point to improve once Snapdragon Wear 2100 arrives, the here-and-now reality of it is that Android Wear punishes power users especially roughly. The more you use it, the faster it dies.
Final verdict
Even two years after its debut, Android Wear is still in its infancy, with a relatively limited number of apps available.
The software generally works as intended, with a straightforward Google Now interface that involves lots of touchscreen and voice recognition input.
When it does work, it feels futuristic on the hand and more practical than, say, Google Glass. But for some, that’s not enough of a reason for everyone to run out and buy into the latest wave of Android Wear smartwatches.
So, what needs to change? The hardware. The selection of watches has increased as the number of manufacturers has gone up. Now, the hardware spec needs a kick in the pants.
We fully expect that to happen this year with the arrival of Snapdragon Wear 2100, which will slim down devices, while giving them longer battery life.
But even when we have longer-lasting Android Wear devices on our wrists, we look forward to the experience advancing at the same pace as Google’s Android software wing.
Android Wear software powers convenience gadgets, but not without a couple of inconveniencing flaws.