

Android Wearables: Developer Preview - deepblueocean
http://developer.android.com/wear/index.html

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Aaronneyer
Looks like they're taking a lot of what they've built for Google Glass, and
moved it to a watch form factor, which should give it a much better chance of
success.

I personally have been wearing a pebble for over 6 months now and it's one of
the best purchases I've ever made. I don't see myself ever not owning a smart
watch again and I'm really excited to see what Google can do with this.

~~~
atiffany
"it's one of the best purchases I've ever made" <\- can you please elaborate
on this? I'm considering one of these as well, but I'm curious what you're
actually finding most useful about it.

~~~
neumann
I love my pebble - it has changed the way I use the information available on
my phone for the better. Below are some reasons I find it useful/fun and which
onboard/Android app I use.

(Builtin/Glance) Receiving text messages on your wrist (and having custom
preset replies) is great. Especially when you are on the move, commuting, in
company or a meeting. It does take some time to know how to look at your phone
without seeming like you are being rude and checking the time - but my
acquaintances know what I am doing, and like my phone, I know when not to
react to incoming notifications.

(Glance/Tasker) The Glance app with Tasker allow you to make a button on your
phone interact with literally anything your phone can. Send an API call to a
remote server, silence the phone, send an sms with your current lag/long in a
google map link all withing two button presses. It's insane.

(PebbleDialer) lets you see who is calling and mute, hang up, or pick up. Also
great when you are commuting with a headset.

(PebbleBike) is like having a bikecomputer on your hand, but whenever. And it
stores your trip. If you are interested in the 'social' aspect then Strava and
RunKeeper are meant to work too.

(Builtin) The built in music app is fantastic if you don't have a headset, or
need to know the music - but really, it is bloody amazing when you are at home
and playing music through your phone (or have your phone linked to XMBC!) and
need to pause or wish to skip tracks.

(Glance) I never lose my phone around the house. Two buttons and the volume
goes to full and it plays a soundfile.

(Tasker) My phone is unlocked while connected to Pebble with bluetooth, and
locks otherwise (except on home wifi)

(Glance) The weather update is actually great. "What's the weather outside?"
can be answered with a glance at your wrist.

(Glance/Tasker/SoundHound) Knowing what song is playing without fiddling with
your phone at the pub is good. Most impressive is that SoundHound can
recognise songs while the phone is in my pocket.

For me, it has also meant that I am not checking my phone constantly for new
emails. In fact, now I only have particular filtered labels from gmail sent to
my watch, and the rest do not even notify.

Most of the good 3rd party apps are free, but accept donations which I've been
more than happy to contribute to.

I can live without it, but a year on I am still enjoying it immensely.

~~~
Aaronneyer
Ya, I would pretty much echo all of this.

I used to almost always pull out my phone all the time, either when I felt a
vibration, but it was just some spam notification that didn't matter, or I
just thought I felt a vibration, or I was just checking if I had gotten any
notifications. Now I can just take a quick glance at my wrist, and leave my
phone in my pocket. I'm also almost never late with seeing
texts/messages/emails, which means I can respond to them more immediately.

------
cliveowen
Only problem is, while the software may be mature at this point, the HW just
isn't there. These bulky watches aren't going anywhere. Same for glasses.

These devices will become widespread when they'll come in sizes comparable to
"analog" offerings and, crucially, when we'll start seeing products thought by
designers instead of engineers.

~~~
VikingCoder
Those look like designers to me:

[http://moto360.motorola.com/](http://moto360.motorola.com/)

~~~
garretraziel
Yes they do... but not watch designers. Really, look on some current watches -
Omega Speedmaster Professional ("moonwatch") or Rolex Submariner or some IWC
watches. Moto 360 looks decent, but it looks like it was designed by mobile
phone designers, not watch designers.

~~~
dignati
It's really a matter of taste! I wouldn't wear a single watch you mentionted.
Watch design shouldn't be about showing off your wealth but about unobstrusive
design, much like the Braun watches do for example. [http://www.braun-
clocks.com/watch/BN0024WHBKG](http://www.braun-clocks.com/watch/BN0024WHBKG)

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abhn
Problem is ... I suspect that the Wearables SDK will be another case of Google
launching proprietary libraries on Android. I have no problem with
proprietary, but a lot of people think that because it's Android, it is open.
It isn't. Core Android gets slimmer, Google's tie-in to your business gets
fatter (unless you re-write their APIs). As an example, developers followed
the location APIs in to the Play SDK ... switching from an open, core API to
the Play API without fuss. It's creep if you ask me.

~~~
Navarr
While true, Google has made a big mention of pointing out that everything in
the Play SDK leverages their cloud, and that they make all the APIs that can't
inside of AOSP.

You can still geolocate inside AOSP, it just isn't as efficient as getting the
location Google already has for the user in their cloud.

Stuff like the new Printer APIs and the new Storage APIs are solid evidence
that Google isn't closing up Android. Only opening it further and making it
more useful for everyone.

Developers followed location APIs to Play SDK because it was more efficient.
Better for battery, and faster. Who wouldn't make that switch?

~~~
abhn
I agree with you, I made the switch myself. My point is that rather than
enhancing the Android core, many of these closed APIs seem locked down soley
to give Google more data, ie when that key API has the potential to be a data
broker.

~~~
Navarr
But since it's their internal infrastructure they can't not lock it down.
Anything that is cloud-based has to be locked down. If at all possible, APIs
for interacting with cloud-based services should be put into AOSP.

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jscheel
Intuitive, form-conscious interfaces are definitely needed, but I think the
hardware problem is the biggest hurdle facing wearables. Especially the
battery design. I own a Pebble, and there is something significantly different
about how I look at charging it... and that's with them doing everything they
can to eek out battery life. This necessitates e-ink, accelerometer-based
backlighting, etc. Having a beautiful display usually means abysmal battery
life and an need to shake/touch your wearable every time you want to interact
with it.

~~~
dmarusic16
This. I'll get properly excited when I see battery life for these things. I
suspect there's an ugly surprise lurking there. Already that Moto looks ever
so slightly too thick for me to not care. Now watch when it gets 4 hours of
battery life.

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Tloewald
I note that neither of the guys talking on the video (including one who wears
spectacles) is using Google Glass. Also that the most prominently displayed
information on the "watch" is the temperature. Now, I can understand time not
being front and center, but...

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swamp40
Sorry, Google - photorealistic renderings and simulations are _not_ allowed on
Kickstarter...

Oh, you're _not_ trying to sell us that cool watch?

Well, somebody will have it up on Kickstarter soon. Probably using your slick
video, too.

EDIT: Looks like the watch is real (Moto 360), and is coming this summer:
[http://moto360.motorola.com/](http://moto360.motorola.com/)

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wehadfun
Attempts at making watches do more:

Calculator Watch - 80s/90s -Enjoyed sucess in still produced

Game Watch - 80s/90s - pretty much non existent now

Radio watch - [http://www.in-ovation-
products.com/images/gadget_sports_radi...](http://www.in-ovation-
products.com/images/gadget_sports_radio_watch.gif)

TV Watch - Too young dont know what happened to these

Remote Control Watch - dont know if it ever caught on but it was fun to use it
to screw with substitute teacher when playing videos

~~~
xerophtye
i think the same argument cud have gone for "making mobiles do more" in the
pre-iPhone era. That "the idea is good in theory, but practically all
implementations/executions suck"

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zmmmmm
It's interesting that (unlike Google Glass), they are going out of their way
to attach this to "Android". So the question is, is all the code for this
going to fall under the same license as AOSP? Will it be _part of_ AOSP? Or is
there no code as such, just a bunch of APIs, and the OEMs are going to create
proprietary implementations from the ground up? Does it imply the watches are
going to be _running_ Android, or can they run _any_ OS as long as it supports
the Android Wearable API set?

~~~
abhn
Might be a bit like Google Play where it becomes a super-package on any
Android OS, integrating apps with the API and while giving the apps
functionality also feeds Google with data.

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altharaz
Watches are jewelry. Because of the "social-classy" value of these products, I
do not think that adding them some geeky features will find a real market.

~~~
groby_b
Because we can't be geeks who like to wear beautiful things? Maybe _you_ are
not the target market - and that's fine. But I'm willing to bet there's a
fairly large group of people who combine geekdom and fashion. (Viz. the amount
of fashion startups)

