Android Wear, or Wear OS as it's now known, seems to have found renewed momentum lately with fresh efforts in fitness, updates to the interface, and new hardware coming on the horizon. The latest update brings one notable change the improves the interface for managing notifications, but also carries with it the signs of many other changes and additions to come.
Read MoreWear OS v2.16 prepares priority notifications for favorite contacts, optional media controls, and much more [APK Teardown]
Ticwatch E2 teaser leaks on Mobvoi's website
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.
Read More18 new and notable Wear OS apps and watch faces from the last seven months (2/25/18 - 9/12/18)
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.
Read MoreGoogle Pay on Wear OS works in Germany
As we've learned over the past few years, having a Google service available in your country isn't enough to use it on all your devices. Google Pay, for example, is supported for in-store payments in twenty countries, but only if you're using your phone to make the transaction. If you have a Wear OS smartwatch, however, the Google Pay app won't show up on the watch unless you're in a few countries. At first, the feature came to the US and UK, then it spread to Spain, Canada, and Australia, followed by Poland and Russia. The latest country to join the ranks is Germany.
Read MoreDiesel's fashion-forward Full Guard 2.5 is one of the biggest Wear OS smartwatches on the market
Diesel debuted its first full smartwatch last year, the On Full Guard, a bulky, 1.4-inch display-toting device powered by a Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor that was clearly aimed more at achieving a particular aesthetic than serious functionality. After middling reviews and a year to mull over the original product's strengths and weaknesses, Diesel came to an important conclusion: it needed to be bigger. Thus, the Diesel Full Guard 2.5 was introduced today at IFA, with a 47 by 56mm case, roughly 10mm or so larger than most Wear OS watches on the market.
Read MoreWear OS app v2.14 will add a shortcut to block app notifications [APK Teardown]
While you can run apps on Wear OS, the main reason for it to exist is to serve notifications. But for as much as notifications are useful, too many can be counterproductive. If you're finding that one or more of your apps is getting too noisy, but you're not quite ready to shut down notifications altogether, one good solution is to block those notifications from reaching your watch. Soon, you'll be able to access the settings screen to configure blocked apps by using a launcher shortcut.
Read MoreFacer introduces watch face games to help you kill time (and your smartwatch's battery life)
A day or two of uptime for a smartwatch is accepted as the norm these days — a sad state of affairs, indeed. So when a nifty feature is introduced, excitement is immediately doused with the reality that it almost certainly means conceding some already-scanty battery life. Facer recently announced watch face games for Wear OS and Tizen smartwatches, and they seem like a clever take on uber-casual gaming worth your while if you're fine keeping that charger nearby.
Read MoreTicWatch Pro now available - offers 5-30 days battery life, Wear OS, 'Layered Display' technology
It's been a while since there's been any excitement surrounding Wear OS, the artist formally known as Android Wear, with no notable recent hardware releases outside of expensive fashion products. The OS itself is feeling dated and has arguably never really been fit for purpose; the platform really needs some attention from Google if it's to escape a slow, boring death.
Peering through all the doom and gloom, however, Google-backed Mobvoi is launching a follow up to its well-received, affordable S and E smartwatches. Both the Sport and Express were sub-$200 models made from plastic and rubber, but the TicWatch Pro we first heard about in May is a different proposition.
Read MoreThe Best Of AP
Facer update brings interactive watch faces to Wear OS
Don’t you wish your favorite Wear OS watch face could do more? Thanks to a huge new Facer update, it can!
Facer 4.6.0 adds support for interactive watch faces for the first time, giving users the ability to launch apps, play mini-games, trigger fun animations, and lots more right from their wrist.
Read MoreUpdate Notes for YouTube, YouTube Music, Gmail, Wear OS, Google Assistant, and Creator Studio (Mar 24, 2018)
Every week, I examine somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred app updates while looking for changes. The most interesting things turn into APK Teardowns or Download posts. Many of the remaining updates are unremarkable, amounting to a few bug fixes, routine updates to libraries, or even just pixel-level adjustments to layouts and images. However, there are usually a few updates that land somewhere in between. I don't want to spam readers with dozens of short posts, but I hate to ignore things that people might want to know about, so I'm going to wrap up the leftovers for a little weekend reading and call it Update Notes.
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1 Year Ago Today
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2 Years Ago Today
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