Google has just announced an update to Android Wear, their wearable OS, which could heavily impact the way future Sony SmartWatch’s are designed and built. With the latest build, Android Wear now provides LTE support, meaning devices with compatible chips can easily navigate off of their Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth connection to an available LTE network.

This feature alone can greatly enhance and propel wearables forward as they’re currently tied to our smartphones for most of their advanced functionality. Let’s dive a little more into this after the jump.

The promise of LTE on SmartWatches will truly help usher in a new found freedom and functionality for our favorite wrist gadgets. Now you can easily go on a run and still take calls, make purchases, and text away. Still, there is a flip side to this new found freedom we could gain, further battery drain. Wearables already don’t have excellent battery life with most lasting a day and some extending into two days.

Though unclear how much of an impact LTE connectivity would have on a unit like a SmartWatch vs. your phone which pulls down a lot more data, one thing is for sure which is that battery life will take a hit. Bulk is another thing to consider as that’s an entirely new chip that must be tacked on and not as simple as a software update to existing units. Certainly the latter will be solved as chips continue to get smaller and smaller.

Another thing that’s unclear is how far in advance did manufacturers know about this pending change to Android Wear. Meaning, will the Sony SmartWatch 4 bring with it it LTE or is that far too long in its design process and we’ll have to wait for one more iteration before we see untethered from our phones?

Either way, the progression though expected is a welcome and natural one. Let’s just hope that carriers will be accommodating to it and won’t charge an arm and a leg and perhaps more so, let’s hope that battery life doesn’t take a dramatic hit.

Discuss:

Would LTE support on a wearable entice you more to purchase one if you haven’t already?

[Via Google]