Bad news everyone, Google has delayed the launch of Android Wear 2.0. The good news however, at least for those with a watch capable of running the developer preview is that Google has launched a new developer preview build with new features including Google Play.
The Android Wear Dev Preview requires an LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition or a Huawei Watch, and installation instructions are available on the Android Wear developer page.
The big news in Dev Preview 3 is the introduction of Google Play which Google says is in response to developer feedback that they want Android Wear apps to be more discoverable. With the Google Play Store installed on the watch, users can ‘browse recommended apps in the home view and search for apps using voice, keyboard, handwriting, and recommended queries’.
Under Android Wear 2.0, there will be no need for an app on the phone, giving you a choice to leave the phone app off. Users can use multiple accounts on their watch when browsing Google Play as well as ‘be part of alpha and beta tests, and update or uninstall apps in the “My apps” view on their watch’.
The delay of Android Wear 2.0’s launch until 2017 is pretty big, meaning it’s unlikely we’ll see anything Android Wear shaped announced at their October 4th event. The official line from Google on the delay is ‘We’ve decided to continue the preview program into early 2017, at which point the first watches will receive Android Wear 2.0’.
We’ll be testing out the new Dev Preview 3 today and see how it runs.
Are you running the Android Wear 2.0 Developer preview?
