Darien Graham-Smith takes a closer look at Google's smartwatch platform and explains how it works - and what it can do for you.
Three of the watches in this month’s Labs run Android Wear, Coogle’s operating system designed spec! fically for wearables. This isn’t anything close to a full version of Android; there’s no need to run a heavyweight multitasking operating system on a device as simple as a watch. Indeed, trying to do so would doubtless lead to reduced battery life, which is frankly the last thing the current generation of hard ware needs.
Android Wear is a lightweight OS designed to serve as a companion to a regular smartphone or tablet running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean or later. Indeed, its usefulness largely derives from this partnership: when your phone has something to tell you, the notification can be sent conveniently to your wrist, rather than obliging you to rummage in your pocket or bag for the handset. This approach means the smartwatch itself has to do little in the way of number-crunching, and doesn’t need a SIM of its own to access online services.
The process of setting up an Android Wear smartwatch is mostly done on your smartphone. The Android Wear companion app, which can be downloaded from Google Play, handles the business of locating and pairing with your smartwatch over Bluetooth LE - simply tap the watch to confirm the connection - and it’s also here that device settings are configured and new apps installed.
This is just as well, since working through pages full of options on the small screen of an Android Wear device would be fiddly to say the least. Wisely, Google has chosen to keep such interactions to a minimum. On the device itself, the basic navigation controls involve simply swiping one way or another across the screen to dismiss a notification, or to switch to a different app, and tapping to confirm an action. On some devices there’s also a physical button for turning the screen on and off; on others, you can tap the screen to wake it up, and cover it briefly with your hand to turn it off. At present, the operating system doesn’t support additional controls such as the “digital crown” of Apple’s own forthcoming watch - although that could change as the platform and hardware evolve.
“OK Google...”
The simple interface doesn’t mean that Android Wear can’t handle complex tasks. If you want to carry out a quick web search or send a message to a friend, you can use Google’s voice-recognition technology, as found on Android smartphones and in Google Glass. For this, there’s no need to use the touch controls at all; assuming the display is already awake, you can simply address your smartwatch with a confident “OK Google-”, followed by a supported verbal instruction such as “remind me to charge my smartwatch at 9pm” or “email Tim Danton - sorry this feature’s late”.
If you haven’t tried Google’s voice services before, you may be surprised by the range of commands on offer - far more than the 13 examples provided in the Android Wear interface. And responses draw on contextual intelligence and data from other Google services, so queries such as “where’s the nearest Pizza Express?” or “what’s happening on Saturday?” normally return sensible answers.
If you want to interact with the information, though - for example, if you’re in need of directions to the restaurant - you’ll have to tap to open the relevant app on your phone.
For those who don’t get along with voice input, it’s also possible to tap in data using a third-party keyboard app such as Minuum. It’s not a perfect fit, as there isn’t space onscreen for a full Qwerty arrangement - Minuum uses a tap-and-drag design to condense the keyboard into two rows - and at present there aren’t any apps that accept text input anyway. But it’s early days yet, and we look forward to seeing what developers can do to extend Android Wear’s versatility.
Sensors and sensitivity
In addition to Google services, Android Wear comes out of the box with a few basic fitness-tracking functions. By default, the software supports a pedometer that counts your daily steps and a heart-rate monitor that can be used to track your pulse before and after exercise. This doesn’t mean you can throw away your fitness band, however: not all devices include the necessary hardware to track your heart rate, and the models that do can only currently take snapshots of your heart rate, rather than monitoring its rise and fall during a workout session.
For those with specific exercise goals, third-party apps such as Vimo Fitness can use the watch’s sensor data to track, for example, how many repetitions of an aerobic routine you’ve completed. And if you want to go for a run or a cycle, Android Wear can track your location and speed as you go via GPS. Today’s models achieve this by harnessing your phone's GPS hardware, so you still need to carry the handset with you, but watches with their own GPS chips are coming: Sony’s SmartWatch 3, due for release in late 2014, will let you leave your phone at home, record a run on your watch and then analyse your route when you get home.
An imminent update to Android Wear also promises the ability to act as a standalone music player, connecting to a Bluetooth headset and streaming albums and playlists from its internal storage. Without that update, Android Wear can still be used to control the music player on your phone; the voice interface provides a convenient way to pick a track by simply calling out its name, but again this does nothing to lighten the load for runners.
Android Wear has one more sensor-based trick, too. Since the display is the most power-hungry part of the design, the OS saves power by turning this off when it thinks you’re not looking at it. If you want to be able to glance down and see the time, as with a conventional watch, you can set your device to automatically wake the screen when the accelerometer detects that you’re raising your wrist.
It must be said that this doesn’t always work perfectly. On some watches we’ve tested there’s been an uncomfortable half-second delay, or we’ve found that exaggerated arm-waving has been needed to force the screen to wake up. On other models, we’ve found false positives cause the screen to come on at full brightness while you’re fidgeting at the theatre or rolling over in bed. This isn’t a huge problem, partly because your smartwatch is more likely to be on its charging stand overnight than your wrist - but if you’re accustomed to wearing a regular watch, it’s an adjustment you’ll have to make.
The future on your wrist
The Android Wear devices on test this month represent the first generation of Google smartwatches. Within a year or two they’ll doubtless be joined by newer models with better sensors, longer battery life and handy extra features such as NFC payment chips.
But that doesn’t mean that today’s models will necessarily be left behind. All Android Wear devices run the same system software, with updates coming directly from Google via the companion app. So if you splash out on a smartwatch today, you can expect to receive all the latest software features as they become available.