Google handed out a few thousand Android Wear devices at Google I/O last week, and the public release of Wear is just days away. With all this new focus on smartwatches, what’s to become of everyone’s favorite face computer, Google Glass? Google’s first foray into wearables has had more than its share of tribulations, but Glass has a head start of more than a year. Is Android Wear about to beat Google Glass at its own game? It’s off to a good start — Wear has more application support out of the gate and it only looks silly on your wrist — which can be kept out of sight — instead of your face.
Even though Android Wear and Glass are both running a version of Android, they take fundamentally different approaches to apps. Glass has its own special class of applications known (cleverly) as Glassware. The Glass team has worked closely with well-known developers to make sure there are some useful apps available on Glass, but regular developers have shown little interest in developing for a prototype device. That’s a problem because the apps on your phone don’t interact with Glass.
Android Wear doesn’t need anything special for a basic level of functionality. Android Wear is based heavily on the use of Google Now cards, just likeGlass. However, the application angle doesn’t rely on custom apps being installed on the watch. Developers will be able to add modules to standard Android apps that bring new functionality, but Wear is already able to capture all the notifications from your phone. So, you get notifications on your wrist, which is neat, but the buttons in actionable notifications also come over to Android Wear automatically. This simple fact instantly makes Wear more useful for daily activities than Glass.
Just as it does with phones, Google is allowing OEMs to design the hardware for Android Wear. This will ensure consumers have a variety of choices in design and specs for Android-powered smartwatches. The version of Android on Glass is much more locked down — the device runs on an ancient TI OMAP4 processor and Google has had nothing but problems getting Android 4.4 to run on it properly. The hardware simply isn’t there yet. Google Glass really is a product from the future, but maybe that future is farther away than Google would like to think.
Could Google just abandon Glass after all the issues it’s had? The company can be a bit scatterbrained at times, and Glass is run by the particularly flighty Google X experimental division. Android Wear, on the other hand, is part of the Android group. If Glass doesn’t work out, Google X has many other projects to work on, most of which have nothing to do with Android. Android Wear is deeply integrated in the future of Android, which is one of the most important products at Google. If one of these is going to be the future of Google’s wearable platform, it’s Wear.
Fair or not, Google Glass has developed a negative reputation over privacy fears. It’s not really surprising when you think about it. A substantial segment of the population is bound to be freaked out by someone wearing a video camera on their face. A smartwatch is much more socially acceptable — it’s more personal and doesn’t put anyone on the spot. Android Wear simply negates the need for Glass, at least until Google makes some big changes to its face-computing platform. Maybe it will become an Android Wear device.
It is nice
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