A week before Google I/O, Google has released a video that introduces Android Wear to developers. As Google has said in the past, Android Wear is not meant to replace your smartphone but complement it. The objective is to cut down on the time spent interacting with our phones by offering a simpler set of interactions.
Android Wear evangelist Timothy Jordan gives a quick overview of key features, including voice control, notifications and Android Wear apps. While developers will find that they don’t need to enhance their apps to work with Android Wear, the new extensions will allow them to enhance default actions and enhance their apps to work with wearables such as the LG G Watch and Moto 360.
It should be pointed out that other wearables such as the Pebble and Samsung Gear 2 strive for the same goal of improving interaction with our other mobile devices. Android Wear’s advantage may lie in its focus on a simplified interface focused on “micro-interactions” with most actions coming in the form of voice commands and contextual responses that can be provided by the device orally or visually (or both).
Android Wear will feature prominently at next week’s Google I/O.