Available as an OTA update, Android Wear 1.3 (LCA43) is now available for the Sony SmartWatch 3. Revealed a few months ago, this new update brings interactive watch faces which in turn allows for greater interactivity and information from your watch. So what exactly does this mean? Details after the jump, including an animated demo.
Android Wear 1.3 is designed to bring some features which can be found on the Apple Watch, specifically interactive watch faces. Until now, watch faces could only display simple information like the time and any additional piece of info required navigation to the home screen, followed by the app. Now, developers have total control over the watch face experience and can display all kinds of information.
Some examples of new sets of data which can be offered include
- The time (not new)
- Day and date
- Unread emails
- Weather forecast
- Upcoming calendar events
- Steps
- Walking directions
Each of these widgets can then display more information via a simple tap. Though officially released, Google has revealed that Android Wear 1.3 will be a gradual rollout that could take a few weeks. So if you’re firing up your SmartWatch 3 and don’t see an update, there’s no need to panic. Incidentally, this rollout is specific to Google in that hardware partners have no say over Android Wear software and can instead only design the hardware. This means that any bugs or slowness in the rollout is purely on Google and not Sony.
Discuss:
Is Android Wear 1.3 live for your watch?
[Via Google]
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