Moto 360: A round watch doesn't alienate.
Yesterday, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced Android Wear, a special extension of Android designed specifically for wearable devices. Wearable as in smartwatches, the newest must-have gadget hyped to warp-factor-nine, darling of the blogosphere. Smartwatches, according to conventional bloggy wisdom, will be the next smartphone: A device you didn't need before, but can't live without now.
What can't be ignored is that most smartwatches look as if they were beamed from the set of a bad 1960s era Sci-Fi film. Never fear, a new watch from Motorola -- the Moto 360 -- seems impervious to all tacky-on bursts fired willy-nilly from the raygun of Ming the Unpolished.
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers synchronize watches and color coordinate.
Filling in for our humble blogwatcher Richi Jennings, is a humbler Stephen Glasskeys.
JR Raphael is doubly excited, excited, excited:
Hold on tight, gang: After months of waiting...Google's...push into the world of smartwatches has finally begun....
The Big G announced Android Wear, an extension of Android designed...for wearable devices...earlier today. MORE
Instead, Jon Phillips gets serious about productivity:
The new Google [wearables] software platform is called Android Wear, and will be employed by...manufacturers for retail smartwatches shipping later this year. ... LG's wearable is called G Watch. It’s planned for the second quarter. ... Motorola has also announced a Google Now watch called the Moto 360 [with] a circular display...available "in a variety of styles" this summer. MORE
And Matt Hamblen thinks "smartwatch":
As an indicator of how competitive [wearables have] become, consider this timeline: Samsung released its Tizen SDK just nine days after Google announced at the South by Southwest conference on March 9 that its Android Wear SDK was coming....
It's clear that both Samsung and Google want to woo developers, but the company likely to be the most successful is still Apple, according to analysts. MORE
However, Dieter Bohn believes there are now too many:
[Various OEM's] are coming out of the woodwork to announce...plans to create wearable devices. LG announced first, with its G Watch ... it appears to be a simple, plastic square with an LCD touchscreen....
Motorola also has announced plans [for a watch and] said in a blog post...that it would be called Moto 360. It has a round face and looks much more elegant than any smartwatch we've seen thus far....
Google has listed other partners...HTC, Samsung, and Asus. Fossil also released a...press release, in which it said it was "working together with Google supporting the extension of Android into wearables with Android Wear." Presumably that means it, too, is working on a watch. MORE
Occasionally, Jack Purcher decides to be nice:
[Google's new Android Wear website] is even "Apple-Like" in design, though for today, we won't pick on Google because today is their day....
In the end, all I can say is take a moment to peek at Google's new Android Wear gameplan just so that you'll understand what it is that Apple will eventually annihilate. MORE
But Michael Crider likes to disassemble androids:
[Reading] through the [Android Wear] developer site, a rough image of Android Wear begins to take shape....
There are three major functions of Wear: a Google Now-style "homescreen" with a a scrollable list of cards, a notification system that alerts you to [smartphone information], and a series of contextual tools that pop up during certain activities. MORE
No longer square, Shane Cole comes back 'round:
[The] Moto 360 is modeled after traditional round wristwatches, with a metal casing that...will be available in multiple styles. The shape is a stark departure from other smart watches...which exclusively sport designs...around a rectangular display. MORE
Meanwhile, Tom Warren rushes to show us nothing:
Imagine if Apple announced its iWatch with a set of renders, fake UI, and no device to show. Why the rush Google? MORE
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