Google announced Android 5 (5.0.1) for Android Wear almost a week ago, and while we’ve seen the update arriving on a number of watches starting with the LG G Watch and G Watch R, Sony and Motorola have both announced that their Android Wear devices – the Smartwatch 3 and Moto 360 should both be receiving the update too.
Sony announced the update on their blog, pointing to the new Android Wear watch faces on Google Play. It’s a fairly brief announcement with Sony simply advising ‘With the latest Android Wear update rolling today – for all our SmartWatch 3 users’.
Motorola has been far more in-depth with the Moto 360, announcing a pretty comprehensive list of included features in the update :
Android L
Updates Android Wear to the latest platform for consistency across Android devices for both consumers and developers.
3rd Party Watch Faces
Choose from a variety of public watch faces available through the Google Play Store. Watch faces can be selected and configured through the Android Wear app on your phone or directly on your Moto 360. Developers can leverage application programming interfaces (APIs) to create a watch face and retrieve calendar and notification data.
Undo button for card dismissal
When a card is swiped away it will remain available to undo for a short time after dismissal.
Quick Settings
Swiping down from the top brings new settings that include Theatre mode, Sunlight mode (temporarily maximize brightness), managing interruptions, and easier access to deeper Settings. Interruptions choices made on your Moto 360 automatically change the Interruptions setting on your Lollipop-based phone..
Theater Mode
Screen remains off unless turned on by a press of the side button.
Battery & Storage Stats
The Android Wear application will now allow you to obtain more information about Moto 360 battery performance including a projection of time left and a breakdown of usage by applications. You can also see how much storage space remains – which is helpful when planning offline music.
Motorola began pushing the update to the Moto 360 on the 10th of December, advising that all Moto 360 owners will be prompted to install the update by the 15th of December.
Android 5.0 for Android Wear is a pretty decent update, but it’s the watch faces that seem to be the outstanding feature for most people. Let us know in the comments which of the ‘official’ watch faces you’ve downloaded.
