We heard yesterday that Google was going to be rolling out a new version of Android Wear today, which is Android 5.0 for Android Wear. Google announced a whole host of new features that are coming with this OTA, which should start rolling out today. Let’s have a look at some of these features.
First things first. The Watch Face API is finally here. That means we’ll be able to use custom watchfaces without killing our watches battery so quickly. Which is a great thing. Google has created a bunch of new watch faces that will work on all of the Android Wear smartwatches. Including some Plants vs Zombies, Redbull, Pac Man, Santa Racer and more. And with the API now available, obviously we’ll be seeing plenty of other watch faces hitting the Play Store very soon.
In addition, this update will give you the ability to bring back a card when you dismiss it by accident. Which that happens quite often to me, and I’m sure I’m not alone here. Recently used actions will now float at the top of the list when you tap on the watch face. Which should help you find what you’re looking for easier. So for instance, if you want to use “Show me my Steps” and you’ve used that command before, it’ll be at the top of the List instead of “Take a note”. There’s also a new mode which will let you change some of the settings by swiping down from the top of the screen. Google has also added in a theater mode for turning the screen off and muting vibrations. We also now have a sunlight mode, which will put the watch at maximum brightness, which is good for being outdoors, but don’t expect the battery to last long with Sunlight mode enabled. It’s also going to be easier to block app notifications now, and can be done straight from your watch. Additionally, you can see which apps are affecting battery usage and storage from the Android Wear app. A powerful tool for power users.
And there’s bound to be more in this update for Android Wear. Check out the source link below for Google’s full blog post.