Thursday, March 28, 2024

Android Wear version 1.4 adds call support and more

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android_wear_incoming_call_io_14Google has updated Android Wear yet again. However, this one doesn’t just bring performance tweaks and minor improvements. Version 1.4 is a significant upgrade over the last version because of its ability to pick up calls.

That’s right! Android Wear has finally added support to take advantage of your watch’s speakerphone. With the new update, users can play music directly out of the loudspeaker on their smartwatch. In addition, select smartwatch owners will be able to answer incoming calls directly on their watch. But hang on, there’s only a select few who will get this functionality due to the required hardware speaker. These include the LG Watch Urbane 2, Huawei Watch and Asus Zenwatch 2. One can expect a whole new lineup of Android Wear powered smartwatches with built-in speakers to hit the market soon to take advantage of these new enhancements.

Version 1.4 will also bring some significant battery improvements along with support for additional languages such as Polish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Dutch, Indonesian, and Thai. Lastly, the update brings a new way of flicking through your cards. Instead of the wrist flick, users can now tilt their wrist away to view a new card and tilt the watch towards oneself to go back to the prior card. The same tilt gesture can be used on the watch face (main screen) to open up the apps menu, another great shortcut. However, enabling these gestures will come with the cost of precious battery life due to the tracking of movements.

Google says the update will be rolling out over-the-air very shortly. In the meantime, if you’re still hesitant on buying a smartwatch, check out our latest guide on the best smartwatches right now.

Source: Google
Via: 9to5Google

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