After hitting the market with its own in-house smartphone series Pixel, Google is all set to launch its wearable device, following rumors of a Google-branded Android wear device, The Verge reported this week.
Jeff Chang, product manager of Android Wear at Google, said that the upcoming new smartwatches from Google will be the first smart-watches to feature Android Wear 2.0, as per a report by The Verge. He also added that these smart-watches will not come with Google or Pixel branding but the branding of the manufacturing company.
Chang says that Google collaborated with the manufacturer — which he wouldn’t name, but said has produced Android Wear devices in the past. He also linked the example of Google’s collaboration with HTC for Google’s Nexus smartphone.
Chang further confirmed that even though there might be a difference between the platforms, Android Pay will work on both Android and iOS. He also cleared that there will be several differences between Android wear 2.0 for Android and iOS.
What’s new in Android wear 2.0
The new platform comes with lot of new features, including standalone apps that don’t require a phone to work, support for Android Pay, and support for Google’s voice-controlled assistant, which has already launched on the Pixel smartphones and home speaker.
According to The Verge, two wearable watches which would be launched earlier in next year, a large, sporty version (codenamed Angelfish) is expected to include LTE, GPS, and a heart-rate monitor, while a smaller model (known as Swordfish) will act more as a fitness tracker.
Does every smartwatch will get update?
Google clears that not every smart-watch will get upgrades to Android wear 2.0 but, the most recently models will be upgraded like, Moto 360 Gen 2, Moto 360 Sport, LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE, LG Watch Urbane, LG G Watch R, Polar M600, Casio Smart Outdoor Watch, Nixon Mission, Tag Heuer Connected, Fossil Q Wander, Fossil Q Marshal, Fossil Q Founder, Michael Kors Access Bradshaw Smartwatch, Michael Kors Access Dylan Smartwatch, Huawei Watch, Huawei Watch Ladies, Asus ZenWatch 2, and Asus ZenWatch 3.
Google has played a bet in wearables that will face a tough competitions in the market from Samsung, Apple and Fitbit which are already competing in the race for quite long.
