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A teaser for the Ticwatch E2 is now live on Mobvoi’s website. The company's Ticwatch line has proven popular in the wearable marketplace and it just recently launched the Ticwatch Pro, which we reviewed. The E and S models were first released in July 2017 after a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Wear OS apps and faces that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous seven months or so. It's been a slow process cataloging each Wear release since February, but I think we finally have enough to push out another roundup of the best Wear OS has to offer.
Google Keep for Android Wear has made a significant jump from version 2.0.08 to 4.1.091. Along with this jump comes a new design that makes note actions easier to get to, though it does remove one neat feature that I often used.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android Wear faces that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 3 months or so.
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As the name implies, Android Wear is simply a variation of Android specifically tailored to smartwatches. This year's Wear 2.0 update ran on top of Android 7.0 Nougat, and while some components can be updated through the Play Store, the underlying system can only be updated through normal OTAs.
Sales, sales, sales everywhere. For 1 to 2 weeks every year, the entire world becomes a huge bargain bin where some sales are a little more enticing than the others. I think this one falls in the former category: Mobvoi is having some discounts on its Android Wear smartwatches and TicHome Mini speakers.First, the TicHome Mini is a small portable Bluetooth and streaming speaker with Google Assistant built-in. Scott has been using it for a few weeks (his review is coming soon), but his impressions are that the design and build are good, the sound is great for its size, and the portability adds to its usefulness. He doesn't like the $100 high price tag, but there's a discount now so it's more palatable. If you use code BFMINI while ordering through the link above, you'll take 40% off the price, bringing it down to $59.99. That's still twice as much as the Black Friday $29 Google Home Mini deal, but you'll have to decide whether portability matters that much to you or not.Second are the new Ticwatches. There's the Express aka Ticwatch E, with a 1.4" OLED display, 44mm case size, built-in GPS, heart rate monitor, IP67 water resistance, 300mAh battery, mic and speaker, and running Android Wear 2.0. It comes in 3 colors, Shadow, Ice, and Lemon, though the straps are interchangeable. Usually it costs $159.99, but with code BFSALE, you can take 20% off and bring it down to $129.99. You can also grab it from Amazon for 7.99 in its three colors. It doesn't have NFC, but that's quite low for a watch that seems quite well-rounded.Then there's the Sport aka Ticwatch S, with similar specs save for a larger 45mm case size to allow for 3G connectivity. The straps aren't interchangeable here though. It costs $199.99 but the same BFSALE code will bring it down 20% to $159.99 on Mobvoi's site. You can also grab it from Amazon for 9.99 without having to use a code.
According to a new Amazon listing, it looks like Misfit's Vapor Android Wear smartwatch might actually exist soon. Even better, you can buy one now over at Amazon in both Black and Gold/Pink for just a bit over $151. It's "temporarily out of stock," but you can place an order.The Vapor is supposed to cost $200 when it launches later this October, so we aren't sure if this is a mistake with the listing or an actual reduction in price. Either way, I'd recommend acting very fast if you're interested.In summary, the Misfit Vapor is an Android Wear 2.0 smartwatch with great specs — like a round AMOLED display, heart rate sensor, 50m water resistance, and a 2-day battery — for a slightly incredible price. So incredible, in fact, that after the specs were modified and the watch was delayed, we were starting to think the Vapor was turning into vaporware.Of course, this isn't conclusive proof that the smartwatch will ever actually exist, but it does raise our confidence. And if for any reason the Misfit Vapor doesn't manifest, Amazon is a reputable retailer so I wouldn't worry about losing any cash.If you want to grab what looks (on paper) to be a good Android Wear device at a great price, then hurry. I just ordered one, myself. There's no estimated delivery date yet, so there could be some wait.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android Wear apps and faces that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous month or so.
It's been a long road for Misfit's Vapor smartwatch. After being announced at CES in January, it was revealed that it would run Android Wear 2.0 in March, which instantly made it one of the most attractive sub-$200 watches on the platform, then we discovered that the GPS would only be "connected GPS". Meanwhile the shipping date was pushed from late summer to October and that's where we're at now. Misfit just announced that the Vapor will be available on October 31st, honoring its own deadline by a hair.
Internet radio app iHeartRadio is pretty popular with Android users and with good reason. It's built up an impressive feature set to go along with its attractive interface and is frequently updated with useful additions, such as Google Home support earlier in the year. The latest version brings with it a dedicated Android Wear 2.0 app, and you don't need your phone for it to work.
The rollout of Android Wear 2.0 has been a constant source of frustration for watch owners, as many models have taken months to receive the update. The Moto 360 Sport was updated last month, but there was another watch still waiting - the AT&T Urbane 2nd Edition. The first-gen Urbane received 2.0 back in April, and it started rolling out to the Verizon Urbane 2 around a month ago. But owners of the AT&T variant were left waiting, until now.
Android Wear is undergoing an interesting transformation. While tech companies like Motorola and ASUS are abandoning the platform, fashion brands like Michael Kors and TAG Heuer are showing interest. Michael Kors announced two new watches back in March, the Access Grayson and Access Sofie, and now they are finally on sale.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android Wear apps and faces that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous month or so.
Fossil flooded the Android Wear world with announcements back in March at Baselworld 17 and the Diesel On was one of these. At the time, all we knew was that it would look like the image above, run Android Wear 2.0, and have a Snapdragon Wear 2100. Five different styles were said to be coming, and now one of them has just gone up for sale: the Full Guard with black case and quick release brown leather band is now exclusively available for $325 at Macy's and should show up on Diesel's online shop on September 25 when it will be joined by more styles.
You might remember how excited we got for this smartwatch earlier this year, just after it was announced. Since then our enthusiasm fell just as our suspicions rose. But on paper, the Vapor still sounds like the best smartwatch deal out there. Unfortunately for anyone interested in picking one up, you'll have to wait a bit longer, as the release has been pushed back from the "end of summer" to October.
When things do look too good to be true, they might actually turn out to be just that. The Misfit Vapor was announced in January with what seemed to be a proprietary OS, but when it was later revealed that the smartwatch/activity tracker would run Android Wear 2.0, we were very excited. It suddenly became one of the best value-for-money Wear watches (well, if you don't care about NFC for payments) thanks to its activity tracker roots, big screen with ambient light sensor and no flat tire, interesting touch bezel for controls, 50m water resistance, $199.99 price tag, and integrated GPS to boot... Oops, sorry, that last part doesn't seem to be true anymore.
Android Wear 2.0 has been a mixed bag, to say the least. The platform's largest update yet hasn't been popular with everyone, and several notable bugs plus a slow rollout have hindered its success. Another widely-reported bug related to setting up Google accounts on AW 2.0 still hasn't been fixed, almost three months after it was first reported.
Two days after hitting its larger 1.63" sibling, the Android Wear 2.0 update has made its way to the smaller (and surprisingly, more expensive) 1.45" ASUS ZenWatch 2. This is the last ZenWatch that had still been waiting to receive the update, as it's been confirmed that the first ASUS ZenWatch will not be updated to Wear 2.0.
French music streaming service Deezer launched in the US almost exactly a year ago and its large catalog of songs has impressed as the company attempts to rival Spotify and Google Play Music outside of Europe. Since May, subscribers have also been able to use the service through Google Home, and the latest update extends functionality to Android Wear watches.
Something that Android Wear 1.x was sorely missing was support for on-screen keyboards. It just isn't ideal in some circumstances to have to talk to your watch. Naturally, one of the features people got most excited for in Wear 2.0 was the ability to type using a keyboard. However, it appears that some languages' keyboards have some missing characters.