Google has confirmed that two premium smartwatches are on their way and these will preview Android Wear 2.0. For an exclusive period, these two devices will showcase Android Wear 2.0, before other smartwatches are released and existing eligible smartwatches are updated.
The flagship Android Wear 2.0 devices were confirmed during an interview between The Verge and Google’s product manager of Android Wear, Jeff Chang.
Jeff Chang told The Verge that the two devices will not have either Google or Pixel branding. Instead they will have the branding of the manufacturer, which Google has collaborated with on the two devices.
This would be reminiscent of Google’s strategy with the Nexus line of smartphones. Although the manufacturers were not mentioned, Chang did confirm that the manufacturers have previously made Android Wear devices in the past.
We expect to hear more about these two new smartwatches at CES this January.
Android Wear 2.0 features
Android Wear 2.0 will feature more standalone apps that do not require a smartphone, in order to work. There will be Android Pay support for watches that have NFC and the Google Assistant will be pre-loaded (as seen on the Google Pixel and Google Home speaker).
Android Wear 2.0 update
If you already own a smartwatch then you will be interested in knowing if your device will get the Android Wear 2.0 update. The models that will get the update are listed below:
Asus ZenWatch 2
Asus ZenWatch 3
Casio Smart Outdoor Watch
Fossil Q Founder
Fossil Q Marshal
Fossil Q Wander
Huawei Watch
Huawei Watch Ladies
LG G Watch R
LG Watch Urbane
LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition
Michael Kors Access Bradshaw Smartwatch
Michael Kors Access Dylan Smartwatch
Moto 360 Gen 2
Moto 360 Sport
Nixon Mission
Polar M600
Tag Heuer Connected
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Written by: Michael Brown