We told you all about Google I/O last week and the biggest thing to come from the event being the launch of Android Wear, the operating system that Google have rolled out for their wearable devices. Well now Android Wear devices have their own companion app for Android smartphones and tablets. It’s called, imaginatively, Android Wear and allows users to configure various settings on their wearable device.
Currently the app only offers some quite limited functionality, things like alert settings, voice commands, time and alarm settings. However it’s everything you would really expect to be able to control with the app. There’s definitely scope in the future to be able to change more complex settings through the application as the Android Wear platform becomes more evolved.
Alongside the launch of the Android Wear app, Google have also launched a dedicated section to the Google Play store with applications to be downloaded directly to a smartwatch. The initial lineup includes a mixed bag of 24 applications, some of which are obvious choices (Google Maps, Google Hangouts) some of which are slightly confusing – when will you ever want to look at Pinterest on your watch or create an IFTTT recipe?
The full list of applications available includes some to check sports results, some to check flight times and some to check the weather. Here’s a full list of the starting linup, in no particular order: Level Money, Contacts+, The Guardian, Bandsintown, Banjo, Duolingo, Eat24, Fly Delta, Onefootball Brasil, Highlight, Glympse, Talkray, Person Capital Finance, Player FM, Thomson Reuters, IFTTT, Allthecooks Recipes, Pinterest, American Airlines, 1Weather: Widget Forecast, and Zumper.
Google have promised that there will be more third party applications available for Android Wear soon. I’ll be very interested to see what comes to the platform next, especially with rumors coming thick and fast about the iPhone 6 – expected to launch with a smartwatch of its own.
Tradebox Media are an award-winning software development agency based in Cardiff, UK.