The smartwatch industry is gaining pace with more OEMs joining the party. After Samsung, which has been a fiercer competitor for the Apple Watch, the likes of OnePlus and now Huawei is trying to make inroads. To present a viable option, Chinese tech giant Huawei has announced its first smartwatch running the in-house HarmonyOS. Dubbed Huawei Watch 3, it has launched alongside a Pro variant.
The Google Pixel Watch appears to have leaked at last. The look of the watch, along with some basic details about the device's release date and abilities, have appeared in a report today before official launch. The device will likely launch with a circular touchscreen display, several casing options, and a bunch of different watch bands with different colors.
Samsung was actually the first manufacturer to come out with an Android-based smartwatch even before there was Android Wear, now Wear OS by Google. It used a modified version of Android that, unfortunately, meant Samsung had to do things its own way yet again. Eventually, it decided to just ditch Android altogether, aside from at least one model, and created its own experience around Tizen OS. Now, however, a single rumor has users taking sides on whether Samsung switching to Wear OS is a good thing or not.
Smartwatch maker Mobvoi has revealed a new model, with the TicWatch C2+ promising smoother performance as it focuses on fitness. The latest Wear OS by Google model from the company, it updates 2018's TicWatch C2 with double the memory, taking it to 1GB of RAM. That, Mobvoi promises, should make for a more responsive smartwatch day to day.
Google has actually been at the forefront of the relatively young smartwatch market at the start. Samsung's first-ever Galaxy Gear ran a modified version of Android back in 2013, three years before the Apple Watch launched. Since then, Android for wearables has undergone at least two major branding changes. Despite that, however, a Google-branded smartwatch is still nowhere to be seen and insiders now reveal how a stillborn Google Watch in 2016 is indicative of the company's ambiguity towards that market as a whole.
A little more than a year after it launched the TicWatch Express and Sport with the help of Kickstarter, Mobvoi is heading to CES 2019 with successors to both devices. Dubbed the TicWatch E2 and TicWatch S2, these new wearables are again running Android Wear, and they’re joining the TicWatch Pro and C2 to comprise Mobvoi’s smartwatch lineup for 2019.
When it comes to smartwatches, Louis Vuitton isn't the first name that comes to mind, but the luxury designer has produced its Wear OS-powered Tambour Horizon wearable since 2017. Now it's announced that the timepiece is being upgraded for 2019 with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, which was built in collaboration with Google.
Today Google Fit was updated for Android. This update included a new set of home screen widgets - a feature Android's been good at for several generations. This update also includes improvements to features already released as well as a new feature that'll assist the user with breathing - guided breathing, that is to say.
Days before its big Pixel event, Google released its latest version of its wearable spin on Android. Not Android Wear, of course, but Wear OS, this time version 2.0. The release was met with generally positive response, praising the more streamlined UI that finally makes it more convenient to use navigate through the smartwatch. It didn’t take long, however, for the initial excitement over Wear OS 2.0 to die down, for one reason or another. It is, unfortunately, indicative of the problem that threatens to ultimately make Android smartwatches obsolete and irrelevant.
Huawei will undoubtedly put the focus of its October 16th even on the Mate 20 and especially the Mate 20 Pro. Those, however, are unlikely to be its only star. Thanks to some last minute leaks, we're getting a dose of Huawei wearables, including a much-anticipated successor to the Huawei Watch 2. And that smartwatch, allegedly codenamed "Fortuna", might promise something very few touch-enabled smartwatches can promise: week-long battery life.
Today Wear OS was updated for all Android devices able to run the software. With this newest version of Wear OS, the wearable (mostly watch-based) software becomes more proactive - quite literally with a feature Google calls "proactive and personalized help". It's also the most health-conscious version of Wear OS, as it provides insight into your activities with Google Fit.
Time waits for no-one, and in smartwatch terms that means the Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100 is long overdue. The latest chipset for Wear OS by Google wearables, it picks up where its predecessor left off, only with the promise of better performance, more flexible displays, and significantly longer battery life. Read on for five things you need to know.