With the launch of the Apple Watch just around the corner, Google today announced a significant update for its Android Wear platform. It will be pushed out to all seven currently available Android Wear watches eventually.
The most interesting feature may well be the addition of Wi-Fi support. It gives any watch with Wi-Fi connectivity far greater autonomy as apps will be able to take advantage of Wi-Fi when a Bluetooth connection is not available. As long as your smartphone still has a data connection of its own, your smartwatch apps will continue to function. Better yet, it will also continue to receive notifications and be able to send messages. It will even let you (hopefully) locate your phone should you need to do so.
Google has also extended its low power always-on display functionality to include certain apps. This will allow them to stay visible as long as you need them. As with the watch faces, the screen will remain in full colour only as you’re actively looking at it to save battery life.
It will also be able to scroll through notifications and use apps. A flick of the wrist will bring up your notification stream while a tap of the screen will bring up the app drawer and let you easily send messages. You will also be able to quickly draw emojis on the watch screen; Android Wear will make them nice and pretty before you send them out via message or text.
This latest Android Wear update will be pushed out to all watches “over the next few weeks.”
Source : Google Blog