Google will release two high-end smartwatches with Android Wear 2.0 in the first quarter of 2017. The wearables were designed together with a partner and will be given an unknown name. According to Google, the release can be compared with that of Nexus smartphones.
Jeff Chang, product manager of Android Wear, does not yet want to tell The Verge who the partner with which the smartwatches are designed and produced. In any case, it is a company that previously released an Android Wear watch.
It will be the first smartwatches that run Android Wear 2.0 as standard. After the release of the high-end products, existing wearables will be upgraded to version 2.0 of the software. Not every Android Wear smartwatch is eligible, only recent models and some functionality requires specific hardware, such as nfc.
Google called 2.0 the biggest update to Wear to date when it was announced at the beginning of this year. With that version, apps can connect to the internet independently via WiFi or a mobile network, without a connection to the smartphone. There is also a small keyboard, on which users can form words by swiping and they can draw letters on the screen to enter words. In addition, there is support for Android Pay and the Google Assistant.
The fifth and final developer version of Android Wear 2.0 will be released in January. According to Chang, more manufacturers are planning new Android Wear watches. The first copies would be shown during the CES fair, which starts in a few weeks.
Smartwatches eligible for Android Wear 2.0:
- 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
- Asus ZenWatch 3