Android Wear 2.0 clocks in with smarter smartwatches
NEW YORK — Android Wear hasn’t exactly been a wrist-roaring success since its debut in 2014.
The pressure is squarely on Google to make good with the Android Wear 2.0 software release that debuts Friday on two new LG smartwatches, especially as it faces completion not just from the Apple Watch, but from Samsung’s Gear S3, which relies on a flavor of software called Tizen.
The new Android software, which will also be coming to other devices, indeed represents a step forward for such watches — there’s support for cellular connectivity, the presence of the Google Assistant, a dedicated Google Play Store, among other enhancements. Navigation is greatly improved. And you can use the watch more often than before without having to rely on a nearby phone.
Still, whether all this moves the clock far enough along in Google’s favor is debatable. No smartwatch I’ve come across is essential, though once you get accustomed to wearing one — and I own an Apple Watch — you come to appreciate and rely on the notifications and other information-at-a-glance that arrives on your wrist. That’s especially true for fitness junkies, who are among the target users with the Android 2.0 update.
Android Wear must play catch-up. Smartwatches based on Google’s operating system for wearables collectively garnered just a 13% market share globally in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the Strategy Analytics research and advisory firm. By contrast, the Apple Watch had a 63% share — and a surprisingly robust holiday selling season.
Cliff Raskind, strategy analytics director of Smart Devices & IOT, says Android Wear’s poor showing “is less about major tectonic shifts and more Google and its (manufacturing) partner’s patience to get things just right. We predict that as in phones Android Wear will in a few years actually overtake Apple’s watchOS, certainly in terms of volumes shipped.”
One positive signal: Android Wear product manager Jeff Chang says Android Wear activations grew 70% during this past holiday season compared to a year earlier, though without knowing how many devices this represents it is difficult to judge the statistic on its merits.
And Chang concedes that Android Wear is more marathon than sprint for Google right now.
The race takes a critical turn Friday, when Google rolls out those first new Android 2.0 flagship watches.
There’s the LG Watch Style, which starts at $249, and the LG Watch Sport, which fetches $100 more.
LG Watch Sport. Thick, heavy, versatile. I’ve spent time wearing both new LG watches, but more so the Sport. It’s a thick and heavy water-resistant mother of a device, with a large readable P-OLED circular display, heart rate sensor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC, and LTE.
You most certainly detect the heft on your wrist, especially when you later replace it with the slimmer LG Watch Style or Apple Watch.
Sport has capabilities the Style lacks. For example, I was able to make and receive calls on the watch, even without a nearby phone. And the speakerphone quality on both ends of the conversation was surprisingly decent. You’ll typically have to pay a fee for cellular access. (AT&T and Verizon will be carrying it.)
The Sport watch comes in titanium or dark blue, but in my view won’t win any beauty contests. It’s easy enough to alter the aesthetic though at least on the display. As part of Android Wear 2.0, you can change watch faces on the fly, and personalize them with potentially useful snippets of information, perhaps notifications for when your next appointment is or a shortcut you can tap to call a favorite contact. Moreover, Google, unlike Apple, lets you choose watch faces from outside developers, who can add their own informational nuggets or "complications" in watch industry jargon.
Just as on the Apple Watch, you have now various ways to respond to a message: by dictation, by scribbling an answer or drawing an emoji, typing on a tiny keyboard, or by choosing among built-in responses, which Google says get smarter through machine learning.
Of the three buttons on the side of the Sport, one is dedicated by default to the pre-installed Google Fit fitness app, off which you can begin a strength training session, stair-climbing exercise, aerobics, or other workouts. If you head off on a run, say, your route can be tracked via GPS, without you having to carry a phone.
Google says you'll be able to stream music directly from the watch via Google Play Music at launch, but the feature was not available for testing. You can also listen to music by syncing up Bluetooth headphones.
Another dedicated button summons the Android Pay feature that lets you pay for something at retail by holding the watch up to a checkout scanner, which after loading one of my credit cards was simple enough. It’s the Android Pay answer to Apple Pay on the Apple Watch.
You can use the rotating middle side button to scroll through notifications or apps — there’s a new improved circular app launcher interface. You can also swipe directly on the screen. I didn’t always instinctively know which method to use.
Pressing and holding in that button summons the Google Assistant, who also responds to the familiar “OK, Google command.” The Assistant provides answers directly on the watch face, but not by voice. Oddly, it could deliver basic information such as the weather or stock quotes or even the height of the Eiffel Tower (accompanied by a picture). But it failed on other queries: “when is the next Knicks game?”or “how many calories are in a blueberry muffin?”
There’s only a single side button the LG Watch Style, a watch some will prefer simply because it is smaller and lighter, not to mention that you can also easily swap watchbands. The thermoplastic polyurethane bands on the Sport are not replaceable because of internal antennas. LG Watch Style comes in silver, titanium, or for $279, rose gold.
Watch gets own Play Store. Android 2.0 software also brings a Google Play Store, which lets you download and purchase many apps or watch faces directly on the watch, from Nest to Uber, without the need to carry your phone. It also means that an Android Watch could appeal to an iPhone owner, not just folks who’ve chosen Android handsets.
It was somewhat concerning to me that on the Sport watch ran low on battery by early evening — Google says the goal is to get you through a full day. You can charge the watch wirelessly by placing it in a cradle.
The 2.0 software update will be pushed to existing Android Wear smartwatches in the coming weeks. You can also expect to see fresh Android Wear 2.0 launches during the Mobile World Congress trade event starting later this month in Barcelona.
I’m not ready to swap my Apple Watch for one of the LG smartwatches. But Android Wear 2.0 does make Google-based smartwatches that much smarter and are worth keeping a watchful eye on.
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter
The bottom line
LG Watch Sport
$349, www.google.com
Pro. Versatile watch has GPS, LTE, Dedicated buttons summon Android Pay, Google Fit. Large readable display. Android Wear 2.0 has dedicated Play Store.
Con. Big and heavy. Battery doesn't seem great.