Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Is it now time to buy an Android Wear smartwatch?

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Although Android Wear appears to be a relatively new concept for us, it’s been around for a while. Since it was first shown off in late June and subsequently made available in July, it has been in the market for a little over five months now. Initial impressions of the platform in general was pretty lukewarm, as it is usually the case with new software. So has anything changed since then?

Well, I would say yes. Not because manufacturers have launched several smartwatches since then (Moto 360Sony SmartWatch 3, ASUS ZenWatch, LG G Watch R to name a few), but also because of the updates the platform has seen over the course of the five months. I would like to think that I have a general idea of how far along the platform has come since the initial devices were launched as I’ve owned a G Watch since July. Although initially I was a little skeptical about the concept, now when I look at the smartwatch, I can see more clearly the benefits of Android Wear. And it’s even better after the Lollipop update.

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The Android 5.0.1 update on my G Watch has refreshed the device dramatically. The ability to download and set watch faces directly from the Android companion app is certainly an excellent addition to the platform. This can save both time and the effort of having to manually navigate through a watch face on the smartwatch. The battery life appears to have seen partial improvement as well, which is always a good thing.

The update has changed the way you interact with certain menus, especially the drop down bar which was previously just limited to showing the battery status and acting as a mute/unmute toggle. This drop down menu has now been tweaked with a couple of display modes for your convenience and also a quick shortcut to the settings, so that you don’t have to scroll all the way down from the commands list. Overall, it’s a much needed update and makes Android Wear a very attractive proposition, especially if you’re new to the platform.

Notifications arrive in a breeze, which was never a problem really and hooking up the device with an Android smartphone can be done in a matter of few seconds. Although I feel the newer hardware on the likes of the LG G Watch R, the Moto 360 and the Sony SmartWatch 3 would make a decent addition on my wrist, I’m completely happy with the LG G Watch.

So can you get an Android Wear smartwatch this holiday season? Of course you can. But do you need one? Well if you like having notifications on your wrist rather than having to manually open the phone for every single one than Android Wear can be a pretty nifty addition to your gizmo repertoire. While I would like something like the Samsung Gear S in an Android Wear avatar, the Korean manufacturer has reserved such luxuries exclusively for Samsung devices owners, but that could easily change in 2015.

Come comment on this article: Is it now time to buy an Android Wear smartwatch?

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