Android Wear 2.0 Release Date Revealed

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Google first introduced Android Wear 2.0, a revamp of its own wearables platform based on its mobile operating system, Android, in May last year during the I/O 2016 conference.

Android Wear version 2.0 brings several features to the wearables platform. These include the ability to quickly reply to messages using the smart reply feature, add widgets and the biggest of them all, apps will finally be able to gain access to any connected wireless network (Wi-Fi) thereby eliminating any dependence on cellular connections (3G, LTE) as has been the case so far thus making the watches truly standalone.

Good as that may sound, there hasn’t been much in the public domain on Android Wear 2.0 8 months down the line.

While we expected Google to start pushing Android Wear 2.0 late last year, around the same time it was releasing Android Nougat, that was not to be. Most recently, we’ve been led to believe that an early 2017 release, most probably next month (February) is in the offing thanks to Google’s occasional reminders to developers to update their apps in time for the release.

Now, thanks to Evan Blass who very early on corroborated the early 2017 release plans, we have a specific date.

February 9th it is!

The public release of Android Wear 2.0 almost means that chances of seeing new hardware to showcase it at the same time are very high. While Google has been rumoured to be working on its own smartwatches, just like it has released its own smartphones, it is not clear yet if we’ll be seeing any “Pixel” watches come next month. The company has reportedly denied any plans to release Pixel-style watches revealing that instead it would be sticking with its preferred mode of business: partnering with any one of the 12 watchmakers currently on the Android Wear bandwagon.

It is not just Google and any one of its partners that are set to excite us with new smartwatches, there could be more coming from other watch makers since many had held out on releasing new devices while waiting for Android Wear 2.0 to be finalized. Even then, the truth of the matter is that the smartwatch market is not as glossy as it once seemed with sales almost falling flat last year.

2 COMMENTS

  1. […] For now, besides LG’s upcoming flagship smartphone, Google Assistant will also likely show up in other LG products: smartwatches. While Google has been rumoured for a while to be working on its own “Pixel” smartwatches, it is now understood that it is partnering with LG and it is these LG smartwatches that are expected to be the first to showcase Android Wear 2.0 when it debuts next month. […]

  2. […] Sometime next month, Google is expected to finally unveil Android Wear 2.0. As is almost always the case, any new software unveiling from Google mostly gets accompanied by some swanky new hardware to showcase it. In the case of Android Wear 2.0, that could be a couple of watches from Google or rather, like the Pixel smartphones it released late last year, designed by Google. This is because by this point, we are all resigned to the fact that LG has been tasked with manufacturing them and that there might be some LG branding of some sort as alluded to by a report yesterday. […]

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