Android Wear 2.0 update coming from 15 February to existing watches

Google has confirmed that the update to Android Wear 2.0 will be rolling-out on 15 February, following its announcement with the launch of the LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style on 8 February. 

The new software is a step-change for Android Wear, bring a more user friendly experience and unlocking a load of features to make Android wearables much more competitive. 

There’s a big change in the visual design, more customisation options through complications on watch faces, easier messaging options with suggested replies and a swipe keyboard.

• Android Wear 2.0: What’s new in the major software update for watches?

There will also be a native Google Play app store, meaning you can download standalone apps to the watch without the need to use a phone – bypassing one of the limitations experienced by iPhone users.

There is also Google Assistant and more enhanced fitness options through Google Fit.

Some of the new features are hardware dependent, like Android Pay support which needs NFC, as well as the support for rotational inputs – which none of the existing Android Wear devices currently have the hardware to support. 

Android Wear 2.0 makes Android Wear look better and behave better so we can’t wait for the update to drop on our existing devices.

Google will be releasing the software for existing devices on 15 February, but manufacturers will then be encouraged to test the software before pushing it out over the air to devices. 

We’re keeping a track of all the devices that are due for upgrade and when you can expect that upgrade to drop, so stay tuned.

• When is Android Wear 2.0 coming to my smartwatch?

Official: LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style are Google’s first Android Wear 2.0 watches

Google and LG have officially announced the LG Watch Sport and the LG Watch Style, a pair of new devices designed in collaboration to showcase Android Wear 2.0.

Android Wear 2.0 was first announced at Google I/O in May 2016, but its official announcement has followed almost a year later, alongside the launch of these two new devices. 

Google confirmed to us that it worked closely with LG in designing these new watches, so they’re probably as close to a Nexus watch as you’ll get – and that was how these watches where first seen when they leaked. 

The LG Watch Sport is very much the hero device, fully-loaded with an LTE connection, meaning you don’t need your phone on to use it, as well as NFC, enabling mobile payments through Android Pay, and linked to the bottom button. 

The sporty watch also offers GPS and a heart rate sensor on the rear, with a full suite of fitness features accessed via the top hardware button.

• LG Watch Sport preview: The crown prince of Android Wear 2.0

But the star of the show is the digital crown on the side that supports Android Wear’s new rotational input controls. This means you can scroll through menus, turn your Nest up and down and so on, bringing a more visceral experience that the previous touch options. 

The second device is slimmer and smaller, designed to give you a smartwatch experience but in a more subtle way. There’s no GPS, NFC or LTE and there’s no heart rate monitor either: the Watch Style is about giving you the core Android Wear 2.0 experience, with that central digital crown. 

What the LG Watch Style does offer, however, is changeable watch straps. Coming with a leather strap as standard, you’ll be able to switch it out in seconds if you want a different look.

Both watches benefit from a fully-round display, with no flat tyres to be found. The new Android Wear 2.0 software also brings Google Assistant, completely revamped watch faces with complications, rotational input through the crown, quick replies on messages and a whole lot more.

• Android Wear 2.0: What’s new in the major software update for watches?

The LG Watch Sport will cost $349; the LG Watch Style will cost $249. Both will be available from Best Buy, Google, AT&T and Verizon from 10 February in the USA.

The watches will also be available in Canada, Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, UAE and UK soon. 

The Android Wear 2.0 update for existing devices will be available from 15 February.

• When is Android Wear 2.0 coming to my smartwatch?

iPhone owners to benefit from Android Wear 2.0, thanks to standalone apps

Android Wear has supported the iPhone for a while, but the experience has been rather jilted. Unlike the Apple Watch, the experience didn’t “just work”, it was more a case of “barely worked”.

There are a lot of reasons why, not least because of the approach that Apple takes to keeping its ecosystem locked down tight, but also because of the lack of Google’s Play Store on the iPhone, meaning a dirge of apps. You can read all about the old position on the link below.

• What’s Android Wear really like on iPhone?

One of the big changes in Android Wear 2.0 is standalone apps. This means that the app can be installed directly on the watch, which has its own app store. Currently, you’d have to install the Wear compatible app on your Android phone to enjoy it on your watch. 

With Android Wear 2.0, your watch will be able to connect itself to the network, either via Wi-Fi or LTE (if and when LTE-equipped watches hit the market), so you can install those apps directly, with no need for a connected device. 

For an iPhone user, that means you can install Uber or Strava or Runkeeper on an Android Wear smartwatch, without encountering any problems with your iPhone, as one isn’t dependent on the other.

Google has confirmed that the following apps will be standalone, so can be used by Android or iPhone users: 

• AccuWeather
• Android Pay
• Bring!
• Foursquare
• Google Fit
• Google Messenger
• Google Play Music
• Lifesum
• Robinhood
• Runkeeper
• Runtastic
• Strava
• Telegram
• Uber and many more

The interesting app on this list is Android Pay. That’s a given for Android phone users, but it appears that iPhone users will at some point in the future also have the freedom to use Android Pay on their wrist, meaning they don’t lose out on this convenience feature by not using an Apple Watch. 

There’s no real telling what the overall experience is going to be like for an iPhone user, and we suspect it won’t be as seamless and slick as it is on Apple Watch, but Android Wear 2.0 could unlock a whole world of variety when it comes to choosing your next piece of connected wristwear.

• LG Watch Sport preview: The crown prince of Android Wear 2.0

LG Watch Sport vs LG Watch Style: What’s the difference?

LG has announced two new smartwatches, designed in collaboration with Google. The two devices will be the poster boys for Android Wear 2.0, which launches at the same time, bringing some excellent new features.

As their names suggest, the LG Watch Style opts for the fashion route, while the LG Watch Sport goes down the sports path. Here is how the two smartwatches compare in terms of design and specs.

• LG Watch Sport preview

LG Watch Sport vs LG Watch Style: Design

• Watch Sport bigger
• Watch Style interchangeable straps
• Both have waterproofing

The LG Watch Sport is the chunkier and more rugged of the two smartwatches measuring 45.4 x 51.21 x 14.2mm with a rubberised fixed strap and stainless steel casing.

There are three buttons to the right-hand side of the Watch Sport’s circular face, while an optical heart rate scanner sits underneath. The casing is available in titanium and blue colour options and it has IP68 water protection.

The LG Watch Style is a little smaller and slimmer than the Sport, measuring 42.3 x 45.7 x 10.79mm with an interchangeable Italian leather strap. It too has a stainless steel casing and it comes in rose gold, silver and titanium colour ways.

There is only one central button on the right of the Style’s circular display and the bezels surrounding the screen are narrower than the Sport for a sleeker look. It is also water resistant but it offers an IP67 rating rather than IP68.

LG Watch Sport vs LG Watch Style: Features

• Larger display on Watch Sport
• LTE connectivity and GPS on Watch Sport
• Heart rate monitoring on Watch Sport

The LG Watch Sport has a 1.38-inch display with a 480 x 480 pixel resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 348ppi. It features optional LTE connectivity within the strap, as well as NFC and GPS for an independent experience. 

As we mentioned previously, there is also heart rate monitoring on the Sport model with Google Fit accessed easily via the top button on the right of the display.

The LG Watch Style on the other hand has a slightly smaller 1.2-inch display with a 360 x 360 resolution for a pixel density of 299ppi. It misses out on the extra features present on the Sport, meaning it’s more of a standard smartwatch.

• LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style: Release date, rumours and specs

LG Watch Sport vs LG Watch Style: Hardware

• Both Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip
• More RAM on Watch Sport
• Bigger battery on Watch Sport

Both the LG Watch Sport and the LG Watch Style come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip and 4GB of storage. 

The Watch Sport has 768MB of RAM and a 430mAh battery capacity, while the Watch Style has 512MB of RAM and a 240mAh battery.

LG Watch Sport vs LG Watch Style: Software

• Both Android Wear 2.0
• Both have Google Assistant
• Watch Sport can be independent of smartphone

Both the LG Watch Sport and the LG Watch Style run on Android Wear 2.0, offering an entirely new visual experience and interface to what Google’s wearable platform used to be.

The two new smartwatches also both feature Google Assistant and they both have the digital crown within the central button on the right of their displays for navigating the new interface.

The LG Watch Sport also has LTE connectivity however, meaning it can be used to stream music when out and about and take calls if you put in a SIM, without the need for your phone.

• Android Wear 2.0: What’s new in the major software update for watches?

LG Watch Sport vs LG Watch Style: Price

• Watch Style is cheaper

The LG Watch Sport will cost $349, while the LG Watch Style will be the cheaper alternative at $249.

LG Watch Sport vs LG Watch Style: Conclusion 

The LG Watch Sport is the bigger and more feature-rich of the two smartwatches being compared here. It has a larger battery capacity, more RAM, a sharper display and it comes with the extra functions like GPS, LTE and heart rate monitoring.

The LG Watch Style on the other hand, allows you to change its strap for a different look and it is also the sleeker and cheaper of these two devices.

The New York Times bundles Spotify to entice subscribers

After building up plenty of new subscriber momentum during the election, the New York Times is making a surprising move to encourage people to pay up: Bundling Spotify’s music streaming service with unlimited access to its news offerings. The NYT will offer the new joint subscription for $5 a week — 20 percent less than the current NYT unlimited pricing, which comes in at $6.25 a week — and will include unlimited access to Spotify’s premium offerings (which typically costs $10 a month).

It might seem like a strange fit, but the partnership could help both services attract some new users, as Bloomberg notes. The New York Times currently has around 3 million digital subscribers, but it’s aiming for a cool 10 million. Spotify, meanwhile, currently has more than 40 million subscribers. Perhaps more than the subscription discount, deeper integration between the NYT and Spotify could convince people people to actually pay for their services. And don’t forget, the NYT isn’t a stranger to new tech, especially with the increasing amount of 360-degree VR videos it’s producing.

Source: Bloomberg

Europeans will get ‘portable’ streaming libraries next year

The European Union is supposed to be a big, borderless family of member states, but this concept is far from true in the online world. For several years, EU regulators have been working towards a “Digital Single Market” with the aim of breaking down some of the regional barriers. One success story is free mobile roaming across the EU, which comes into force this summer, and now various European bodies have agreed upon new rules that’ll put an end to the geo-blocking of various online services like Netflix.

You see, Netflix offers different catalogs of films and TV shows in different EU countries. If you’re a British Netflix subscriber in Paris for the weekend, for example, you’ll still be able to log in to your account, but you’ll see the French content library. Similar geo-blocking tactics are employed on various music and video streaming services, as well as on video game and e-book stores. The EU would ideally like everything to be available to everyone across the region — just ask Paramount — but unravelling the complex web of country-specific licensing and copyright agreements is going to take some time.

Thus, the EU has come up with the quick fix of “portability,” allowing Europeans to access services in other countries as if they were at home. How this will work in practice has now been agreed upon, and it’s all pretty simple. Paid services like Netflix already require that you create an account and, of course, it knows where you call home. When the new rules go into effect, your country’s film and TV catalog will effectively become linked to your account, meaning you can binge anything you normally could even though you’re accessing it from a German IP address. This will be mandatory for paid services, whereas free ones like BBC iPlayer will be able to decide for themselves whether to offer portability or not.

The portability regulations still need a final stamp of approval from the European Parliament and Council of the EU, but given how simple and common sense they are, it’s likely this will be mere formality. After the go-ahead is given, providers will have nine months to make their services portable, meaning everything should be working as the EU intends by the beginning of next year.

Via: Digital TV Europe

Source: European Commission

The LG Watch Style is a very basic Android Wear 2.0 device

At last, the long-awaited update to Android Wear is upon us. Google is debuting its new wearable OS on a pair of LG-made devices: the Watch Style and Watch Sport. The Style is a $249 smartwatch that bundles Android Wear 2.0 and a new dial in a petite, simple frame. That all sounds promising in theory, but the Watch Style barely meets expectations and relies on that fancy new software to tempt shoppers.

Hardware

For a watch with the word “style” in its name, the Watch Style is a letdown from a design standpoint. Although I appreciated the thin case and slim 18mm band, I didn’t care for the watch’s otherwise bland design. The Italian leather strap I received was an unappetizing camel color that reminded me of, well, my flesh. But it is easy enough to swap out for a nicer strap, with the convenient clasp on the underside. LG offers two other colors for the case (black and rose gold) and two additional band colors: black and cream.

The watch’s 1.2-inch P-OLED display is a size that’s becoming increasingly popular on Wear devices, according to Google. So it’s baffling, then, that LG decided to surround the petite screen with an almost half-inch-thick ring of dead space. The display and this black circle are enveloped by the Style’s matte-silver case, which has a bezel that adds about another half-inch around the face. While the device is still compact overall, it feels like there’s too much wasted space overwhelming the design.

Thankfully, the rest of the case has a clean, minimal aesthetic. There’s no etchings or bling here (cough, the Huawei Watch Jewel, cough) — just a dial on the right of the face that you can press or rotate. The Watch Style also lacks a heart rate monitor, which isn’t surprising for the price. The underside of the case is a bare plastic disc that feels as cheap as it looks. For the price, though, the Style’s IP67 rating for water and dust resistance is a nice touch. It’s safe enough to wear in rainy weather (or in the shower, if you want), but I wouldn’t recommend getting the leather band wet.

Android Wear 2.0

We’ve known about the features coming to Android Wear 2.0 for a while, but seeing it all together on a new watch impresses upon you the fact that this is a whole new operating system. Gone is the slightly cartoonish card-based interface. In its place, we have something cleaner and more refined.

One of the biggest updates to the OS is the new scrolling mechanism. The original Android Wear was criticized for being too reliant on swiping to get around. You had to swipe over and over again to get through all the notifications stacked up under the home page, for instance, or swipe twice to the right to unearth OK Google or your contacts. With this new interface, you can scroll through all of your alerts just by dragging your finger down the screen or twisting the dial.

This saves a lot of time and is the main reason the new OS feels so much faster and more responsive than before. But Google was slightly inconsistent in integrating this mechanism with its existing gestures, which makes navigating a bit confusing. For example, swiping right from the apps list on the old Wear brought you back to the watch face. Doing that on the Wear 2.0 does nothing; you’ll have to press the dial to go back home from the apps list. Sure, it’s easy enough to relearn a few gestures, but in this case, since swiping right doesn’t do anything, it would have been more intuitive if Google simply programmed that action to bring you home.

I also wish Google had been more thoughtful in some other aspects of the software. Music playback controls now show up as a notification in the new Wear, instead of its previous home in the quick settings drawer that you could pull down from the top of the screen. It was annoying when I accidentally dismissed the music notification and had to wait till the next song for the alert to appear again. This is a better Android Wear, but it’s not without its problems.

When paired to an iPhone, the Style has fewer functions than when connected to an Android device. The features you’ll miss the most on iOS include the ability to reply to your messages or initiate calls from your wrist — indeed, some of the most convenient amenities a smartwatch has to offer.

You’ll also find far fewer apps available in the wearable’s onboard app store if you’re paired to an iOS device. The Play Store is another addition to Android Wear 2.0 that makes finding apps for your wrist easier. Downloading and installing most applications took less than 30 seconds, which is a reasonable wait time. That said, larger files like games took longer.

As I mentioned before, though, iOS users will find a dearth of compatible apps. I only saw a total of about a dozen applications in three categories when paired with an iPhone as opposed to more than a hundred listings across five categories when connected to Android. These standalone apps work even when your watch isn’t linked to your phone, which is another benefit of Wear 2.0. The new platform promises better iOS compatibility than its predecessor, but it’s still not a viable Apple Watch alternative for iPhone users.

In use

Regardless of the device you’re connected to, Android Wear’s enhancements make for a more useful smartwatch than before. In particular, the improved notifications interface does a good job of keeping you informed without being too distracting.

Getting rid of the card-based system from the old Android Wear was a fantastic decision on Google’s part. Now when a notification arrives on your watch, a badge for the corresponding app pops up from the bottom of the face and slides back out of sight. In its place is a tiny indicator icon on the home screen to remind you that you have unread alerts, which you can check out either by swiping up or turning the watch dial. A simple twist of the knob can take you all the way to the last alert in an instant.

This new input method makes all the difference in the updated OS. Think of it as a cross between the Apple Watch’s dial and the Samsung Gear’s rotating bezel: It has the intuitive rotating action of Apple’s hardware with the functionality of Samsung’s twist-to-scroll interface. Google’s collaboration with LG on the hardware here also paid off. In particular, the latency between the dial and the software is imperceptible, making for fluid performance.

It’s mesmerizing to watch the list of apps move up and down without lag as I turn the knob in either direction. It’d be nice if there were notches in the dial here, like there is in the Gear S3, to make for more precise navigation, but that’s not a huge issue, especially since the hardware here is so much more compact than Samsung’s wearable.

As much as I like the new dial, though, I found its placement slightly problematic. Whenever I had to bend my hand backward — say, when I was pushing against a door or tap — the back of my hand would press into the knob, triggering the assistant. It’s a small gripe, since it’s easy enough to dismiss the assistant, but it’s something I’d like to see addressed in future devices.

Although the Watch Style has a skimpier selection of onboard sensors than its more expensive brother, it still carries a modest few components, such as an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a Bluetooth radio and an ambient light sensor. Its round 360 x 360 display is bright and colorful, and words and graphics (such as the adorable penguin watch face I installed) are easy to see.

Together with the refreshed operating system, the Style’s 1.1GHz Snapdragon 2100 CPU kept the device running smoothly. I even found the Style to be more responsive than other watches with similar specs, so I credit the new Android Wear for the performance improvements. For instance, dismissing notifications on the old platform resulted in a one- or two-second wait, while it happens instantly with Wear 2.0.

I did notice a slight (one-second or so) delay whenever I tried to wake the device, whether by tapping on the screen or lifting my wrist. Plus, anything that required voice recognition, such as talking to the assistant or saying a phrase for the Translate app, took up to about 10 excruciatingly long seconds to register and process.

That’s a pain but not nearly as frustrating as the Style’s battery life. Its 240mAh battery, which is rated to last “all day,” barely survives a full work day, much less 24 hours. On a busy day with frequent notifications and a moderate amount of testing, the Style conked out nine hours after being fully recharged. With less-intensive use, the device made it through close to 12 hours, which means you’ll still have to plug it back in about twice per day. Compared to the existing smartwatches that typically last about one and a half to two days, the Style’s endurance is its biggest drawback.

The competition

At the moment, there isn’t a perfect substitute for the new LG watches. They’re the only two Android Wear 2.0 watches on the market right now with the rotating dial, although that will change soon.

If you don’t mind foregoing the nifty new knob, you’ll find a plethora of options. Most other existing Android Wear watches will get the updated OS “in the coming weeks,” according to Google, although certain manufacturers are sure to be slower than others. For $20 less, you’ll find the ASUS Zenwatch 3, which has a larger screen and a bigger battery. The Zenwatch doesn’t run Wear 2.0 yet, though, so if you go that route you’ll have to wait before you see that fancy new software.

Those who prefer classier-looking watches than the Style should consider the Moto 360 for Women or the Fossil Q Wander or Marshal. All three options are prettier than LG’s watch, but they also cost $50 more.

Between the two new LG devices, the Sport is the better choice. It does everything the Style does, but also has a heart rate sensor, supports GPS, Android Pay and offers built-in LTE so you can make calls from the watch without depending on a companion phone. The Sport is much chunkier than the Style, though, and $100 more expensive, so it’s not ideal for folks with smaller wrists or limited budgets.

Wrap-up

Ultimately, the LG Watch Style feels more like a proof of concept than a smartwatch for consumers. It shows how well Android Wear 2.0 can perform when Google collaborates with a device maker to make sure new hardware input methods are integrated properly into the interface. But almost everything else about the Style, from its bland design to its dismal battery life, is disappointing. Even though its $249 price is relatively affordable, a lower cost would help justify some of this watch’s shortfalls. Simply put, the Style is not a good enough watch to showcase the many improvements that Android Wear has made. Fortunately, any number of promising alternatives are sure to arrive this season.

LG Watch Sport review: Where software steals the show

Today has been a long time coming. Android Wear 2.0 was originally announced last May, groomed for launch last fall and then delayed until, well, now. Since that first announcement was made at Google I/O last year, we’ve seen plenty of new Android Wear watches hit store shelves, but it was hard to get worked up over version 1.whatever when something better, faster and more functional was oh so close. Now the wait is over.

As rumored, Google and LG have teamed up on a pair of smartwatches to usher in a new Android Wear 2.0 era. You can find our review of the more basic LG Watch Style here, but with its bigger battery, larger screen and extra niceties, the $349 LG Watch Sport now seems like the Android Wear smartwatch to beat.

Hardware

When I think of sporty smartwatches, I think of bright colors, chunky bodies and outdoorsy looks. The LG Watch Sport, the company’s first crack at a fitness-friendly wearable, avoids most of those design tropes. There’s nothing particularly rugged about its clean lines and stainless steel, though the watch is nonetheless IP68 water- and-dust resistant. (I’ve been wearing it in the shower for nearly a week; no disasters so far.) In fact, I’d go as far as to say the Sport would look as good nestled under a suit sleeve as it would on the trails. The two available finishes — gray and dark blue — are similarly subdued. When taken in tandem, these design elements make for a smartwatch that’s handsome — in an inoffensive, dull sort of way.

There’s no getting around it, though: The Watch Sport is one chunky wrist computer. The problem doesn’t lie in the screen, a perfectly adequate 1.38-inch round P-OLED panel running at 480 x 480. No, the issue lies mostly with the body. At 14.2mm thick, the Watch Sport is one of the thicker Android Wear pieces out there — only slightly thinner than overtly rugged devices like Casio’s smartwatches and the Nixon Mission.

It doesn’t help that the polyurethane bands are wide and nonremovable. Google says some of the watch’s sensors extend into the band, which explains why those straps aren’t going anywhere. They’re comfortable enough (even though the plastic bit that holds the tail end of the strap in place moves around a lot), but they angle away from the watch’s body in a way that could be uncomfortable for big-wristed people.

You might expect the standard-bearer of a dramatically upgraded operating system to pack some impressive, fresh-off-the-line components. Well, not quite. On one hand, there’s a fairly common 1.1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset inside the Sport, paired with 4GB of storage. On the other hand, you get a whopping 768MB of memory. That chip has definitely been around, but we’re looking at the most RAM ever in an Android Wear watch — definitely handy for keeping everything running smoothly.

Then comes the laundry list of radios and sensors seen in other high-end smartwatches. In addition to Bluetooth and WiFi, there’s GPS, a heart-rate sensor, an LTE radio and nano-SIM slot, NFC for Android Pay transactions, an accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, and ambient light sensor. Phew. No wonder this thing feels so chunky.

New to the Android Wear formula is a rotating crown button, similar to what you’ll find on Apple Watches. The comparison to Apple is impossible to avoid, but I actually prefer LG’s approach; there’s just the right amount of friction as you turn the crown, and it juts further out of the watch’s body so that it’s easier to spin with two fingers.

I’m still convinced the spinning bezel from Samsung’s Gear S3 Frontier is the most elegant interface you’ll find on a smartwatch, but the combination of a big, touchable screen here and a rotating crown for more-precise control gets pretty close. Having two interface mechanisms that essentially do the same thing can get tricky, though, as I’ll explain in a moment. Anyway, the crown is flanked by two quick-launch buttons that fire up Google Fit and Android Pay by default. I’m still not sold on the look, but unless you’re really into thin watches, the Watch Sport packs more bang for your buck.

Android Wear 2.0

Love the design or hate it, the LG Sport is ultimately a vessel for a new version of Android Wear. If I were writing this six months ago, that would’ve meant a wearable with a smattering of new features that, while pretty nifty, didn’t do much to move the platform forward. Not anymore. During the week I’ve been testing the Watch Sport, there’s one thought I’ve kept coming back to: Android Wear is all grown up. More importantly, performance is mostly smooth now. Obviously, the robust hardware helps keep things running nicely, but Android Wear has never felt this fast or flexible, even on watches with basically the same components.

Take the apps situation, for instance. Developers have achieved some impressive feats on our wrist-screens, and now it’s easier to download and manage apps on the watch independently from a phone. The update packs the ability to download certain apps directly to Wear 2.0 watches over a WiFi or LTE connection. It’s quick and works well, and now there are plenty of apps that work well right on the wrist.

These past few days, Foursquare has made for a surprisingly able wrist app on day trips to New York City. The app Bring added a handy shopping list I could tap when I remembered to grab the eggs. More crucial to me is that we can now add complications from third-party apps to watch faces. It’s been a lifesaver. Consider the weather: Right out of the box, there isn’t a way to add a “current temperature” complication to the Sport’s six preloaded watch faces. Sure, there’s a standalone weather app, but who has the time to open the app launcher and scroll down to the Ws? With the 2.0 update in place, downloading the Weather Channel’s complications onto the watch (but not the phone) is dead simple.

The Watch Sport is also one of the first wearables to come with Google’s Assistant baked in, and most of the time it was an impressive performer. I spent most of the past week asking it to text my friends and answer mundane, random questions I couldn’t be bothered to grab a phone for. Think “how many cups in a quart?” or “how old is Vladimir Putin?” Alas, though, my home isn’t terribly smart, so I couldn’t test how the Watch Sport does at managing lights and firing up connected coffee makers.

In any case, my only real disappointment is how long it sometimes takes for the assistant to respond to my questions. The longest delay I’ve ever seen was 10 to 15 seconds when connected to a phone via Bluetooth; it was typically faster at returning results over WiFi or LTE.

Then there are the little things. The watch displays the time even while it’s booting up, so there’s never a moment — short of the watch being dead — when you can’t tell what time it is. Quick settings like screen brightness, volume, Do Not Disturb and Airplane Mode are all located in one menu when you swipe down from the home screen, unlike the multiple pages of options in older Android Wear versions. Notifications are color-coded based on the app, and the Google Inbox-style smart replies to messages have been mostly spot-on. As a whole, the Android Wear 2.0 package is impressively well-rounded.

My list of gripes is much shorter by comparison. While I think the new design is a big improvement, longtime Android Wear fans will need some time to get reacquainted. It’s mostly minor stuff, such as swiping to change watch faces instead of long-pressing. I also wish Google had applied some of these new interaction rules more consistently. Most of the time you have to swipe from left to right on the screen to go back one level, but that doesn’t work from the app list. Instead, you’re supposed to hit the crown button.

Speaking of, the crown could use more consistency too. In some situations, you can either swipe on the screen or spin the crown to scroll up and down. In others, you’re forced to use one or the other. The only way to know is to keep an eye on what kind of indicators appear on-screen; if you get a scroll bar that hugs the screen’s round edge, you can swipe or spin. For scrolling through things like watch-face complications, though, your only choice is to swipe. Why? I have no idea. To its credit, Google has taken note of the issue and has said it will address this in a future update, but it’s unclear when.

In use

I might not love the Watch Sport’s exterior design, but LG has otherwise nailed the basics. The display is crisp and decently bright even under harsh sunlight, though the always-on display mode is easily overpowered by bright days. Day-to-day performance, as I’ve noted, is generally excellent. Even the new fitness functionality, which can track indoor workouts such as using the elliptical and doing squats, is more precise than I expected.

It’s a bummer that the automatic activity recognition doesn’t work the way Google originally said it would. Early on, the plan was for Android Wear to interpret certain movements as exercise so you’d get the caloric credit for a workout without having to touch the watch. That didn’t pan out, as a Google spokesperson explained to Engadget: “After internally testing the auto-start feature as originally envisioned, we concluded that it wasn’t the best user experience for many situations (e.g., when you’re running to catch the bus).” Fair enough, since the feature still exists for strength training exercises, but here’s hoping Google figures it out later. In general, though, the new Android Wear is mostly excellent and runs like a charm on LG’s hardware.

Still, let’s not forget all the extras that the Sport brings to the wrist. I don’t know that talking into your wrist has become completely socially acceptable, but at least the Watch Sport doubles as a decent phone. It’s worth noting LG isn’t new to this; the second-edition Watch Urbane with LTE was the first Android Wear timepiece with a built-in mobile radio for data and calls. And now the Sport’s improved software makes it much easier to use. Sure, you can launch the Phone app and scroll through all of your contacts, but asking Google’s Assistant to connect me to someone usually seemed more accurate than relying on the voice commands of old. Audio quality is nothing to write home about, though. Max volume isn’t all that loud, but I could still hear most conversations pretty clearly on bustling New York streets.

Using the GPS can take a while if you’re using the watch as a standalone device, but performance improves quickly when the Sport is connected to your phone. Once that’s finished, you can load an app such as Google Maps — which isn’t installed on the watch by default, strangely — to get to your next destination. Getting Android Pay set up before the watch’s official launch was sort of a pain, but once that initial setup was complete, I had no problem using the Sport to make some purchases at my local drug store.

All of these extras require a powerful battery, though, and the 430mAh cell in the Sport doesn’t seem like enough. Yes, that’s a bigger battery than we usually see in Android Wear watches, but this updated software seems to be pushing the hardware much more than before. With an active Bluetooth connection to a phone, auto brightness and the always-on display enabled, the Watch Sport usually stuck around for about 13 hours before dying.

While that’s technically enough juice to get me through a full day of work, I always had to make a beeline for a power outlet once I got home. If you really want to see the battery meter plummet, use an LTE connection to download some apps or load up the watch face that updates its background image based on your location. I think a bigger battery would do more for the watch’s user experience than a persistent network connection, but it’s ultimately a matter of preference.

The competition

Not everyone needs every bell and whistle the LG Watch Sport offers, which is why the more basic LG Watch Style exists. It will launch alongside the Sport as one of the first Android Wear 2.0 watches on the market, which means the Style packs all of Google’s helpful tweaks and a similar rotating crown button for precise control over apps and notifications. The Style also uses the same Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset as the Sport (albeit with less RAM), and the performance there feels similarly smooth. It costs $100 less than the Sport too, though you’ll lose the LTE, NFC, GPS and heart rate sensor along the way. My colleague Cherlynn isn’t a fan, but it’s worth a look at least.

Then you have options like Samsung’s Gear S3 Frontier, which features many of the same Watch Sport tricks in a slimmer body. I dig the Frontier’s rugged look, but I appreciate its spinning bezel even more. In addition to being fun to use, the bezel also has distinct notches that click into place, making the act of scrolling through notifications and menus feel more satisfying. It costs $349 like the Watch Sport, but choosing the Frontier means you’re working with Tizen and its limited selection of useful apps.

If you’re looking for a smartwatch for your iPhone, meanwhile, the Watch Sport technically does the job. Still, we’ve experienced a handful of issues with getting standalone apps and notifications to work properly, to the point where we almost don’t recommend trying. It’s possible this is a symptom of non-final software (we’ve asked Google for comment), but don’t expect the Watch Sport to be much more than a second-class citizen as far as your iPhone is concerned. You’re better off with an Apple Watch, in that case.

One final note: If you’re in the market for a smartwatch, do yourself a favor and ignore every Android Wear 1.0 wearable out there. Their time has come and gone. Even if the LG Watch Sport falls short of perfection, it’s just one of many options that will soon be available, and the software improvements are notable enough that there’s no reason to look back.

Wrap-up

It’s rare that I find myself enjoying a device’s software more than its hardware, but here I am. Don’t get me wrong, not much about the Watch Sport as a package of parts is definitively bad. If you don’t mind the lackluster battery and thick body, it’s a perfectly fast, perfectly adequate smartwatch. It’s just that Android Wear 2.0 — even with its flaws — is such a marked improvement over earlier versions that it can’t help but steal the show.

While I don’t agree with every one of LG’s design choices, the Watch Sport’s greatest strength is how easily its technological trappings fade into the background, giving Google’s software the power and space to fully shine. In that way, the Watch Sport feels almost Nexus-like in its ambitions and execution. Ultimately, LG has put together a decidedly decent smartwatch, but I can’t wait to see where Android Wear 2.0 pops up next.

Android Wear 2.0 was worth the long wait

When Google introduced Android Wear back in 2014, the smartwatch industry was young. The only players worth noting were Pebble, Samsung (with its Tizen-based offerings) and a few other niche options (like Sony’s proprietary Smartwatch OS). Google, however, aimed to kick the door wide open with the same approach it had taken with phones: Instead of making both the watch and the software, it would court different hardware manufacturers, cultivating a diverse set of designs along with a robust third-party app ecosystem.

Three years later, the bet seems to have paid off. Although it’s had to fight off tough competition from the Apple Watch, Android Wear has survived and, according to Google, thrived. “If you compare the holiday season of 2016 with the holiday season the year before, we saw more than 70 percent growth,” says Android Wear VP David Singleton (Not that that’s necessarily saying much). And so with all of that success, comes time for the second iteration of Google’s wearable OS, Android Wear 2.0. It’ll be available first on the newly announced LG Watch Style and Watch Sport on February 10th, and will roll out to compatible existing hardware in the coming weeks.

This update, according to Singleton, is the platform’s biggest one since the birth of Android Wear three years ago. “With 2.0, we really looked hard at what people are using their watches for,” he said. “We saw that usage was really focused around watch faces, messaging and fitness. So we really optimized 2.0 for those things.” But Google improved a lot of other aspects of Wear as well, including the user interface, navigation and notifications.

First, let’s talk about watch faces. As with the previous iteration of Android Wear, you can swap in whatever face you like, either by selecting it on the companion Android Wear phone app or by adding it directly on the watch. But with Wear 1.0, there was often a tradeoff: You could either choose the stylish but barren design, or the complex but informative one.

With Wear 2.0, however, you can have the best of both worlds. That’s because any watch face, as long as it supports complications, can now be customized with data from any app. Swapping out the complications is as easy as long-pressing them and then picking its replacement, which can be anything from calories burned to an app shortcut.

As with Wear 1.0, tapping on each complication brings up the related information card. So for example, tapping the calendar launches the agenda for the day, while the step counter shows how much progress you’ve made towards your 10,000-step goal.

And say you want different complications for different times of day — you want the Nest function when you’re at home, but not in the office, for example — you can customize different watch faces for different use cases. Switching watch faces is as easy as swiping left or right on the active watch screen, so you can simply change from one to another depending on where you are.

Indeed, the Android Wear team took care to make navigation a priority with the 2.0 update. “We really condensed and simplified things,” said Jeff Chang, an Android Wear product manager. “We measured the number of taps and swipes between things, to get that down as few as possible.” So for example, oft-accessed settings are now combined into one display. Swipe down from the active screen and you’ll see toggles for airplane mode, Do Not Disturb and as a settings shortcut.

One press of the side button launches the app menu, and navigating through the list can be done either via a rotating crown (if your watch has one) or the touch screen. If you’d rather not scroll through your lengthy list of apps, you can also long-press a favorite to pin it to the top. The menu will list recently accessed apps first, followed by favorites and then the rest by alphabetical order.

Notifications have changed drastically as well. Instead of glaring white cards that take up the bottom half of the screen, there are now subtler notification icons. Also, the notifications themselves are now color-coded and contextual. So Gmail notifications have a red background, for example, while Hangouts are green. They only appear when you bring the watch up to your eyeline; a few seconds later, the watch face resurfaces again. If you like, you can access all of your recent notifications by swiping up on the main screen. The watch’s overall UI is also much darker. “It’s not only easier on the eyes, and it’s a lot easier on battery life as well,” Singleton says.

As for those incoming message notifications, replying is as easy as tapping; do it once and you’ll immediately be brought to the reply menu. (Though bear in mind this is the experience on Android; the feature is extremely limited on the iPhone.) In addition to using your voice or drawing an emoji, Wear 2.0 introduces a full-on touch keyboard as well. At first this sounds pretty ridiculous on such a small screen, but it’s surprisingly intuitive. You can either swipe through words like you can on Swype or Swiftkey, or you can use handwriting recognition. Either way, I found that the word detection to be surprisingly accurate, with only a few occasional errors.

Another way to reply to messages is through Smart Reply, which is powered by Google’s machine learning. You’ll see a list of what it thinks your reply will be depending on the context of the message. Much like the feature of the same name in Inbox, Smart Reply should be able to offer smarter and better responses over time as it learns more about you.

Speaking of machine learning, Android Wear 2.0 also finally brings Google’s Assistant to the watch. Say “OK Google” or long-press the power button, and you can ask all sorts of queries, like “How did the Warriors do against the Cavaliers?” or “How many tablespoons are there in a cup?” or “Is it going to rain today?” It can also be easily integrated with third-party connected devices like the Nest thermostat or Philips Hue lights, or services like Uber and OpenTable.

Now onto fitness. Android Wear 2.0 has Google’s preinstalled Fit app just as before, but the experience is much more improved. You can see your calories, pace, distance as you sweat it out, and if your watch has a heart rate sensor, you’ll see your beats per minute too. It’ also keeps track of how much you’ve been walking and cycling throughout the week, and offers gentle reminders to get going towards your goal if you haven’t met your mark. Plus, it will congratulate you when you succeed.

The new Google Fit is also a lot better-suited to indoor workouts as well. Simply say you’re on a treadmill or a stationary bike, and it’ll track your workout accordingly. Another great feature for strength-training fans is that it can also now count reps when you’re weight lifting and coach you through push-ups and sit-ups. “The watch actually recognizes that you’re doing it,” Singleton says. “So there’s no cheating.”

There’s also a special treat if your Android watch has LTE. With Wear 2.0, you’ll finally be able to stream music to the watch, without having to download the songs first. The default option would be with Google Play Music, but Spotify should be compatible soon as well. You’ll probably want to use Bluetooth headphones to listen to your tunes, unless you want to blast your playlist to the world around you as you’re running.

Oh, and say you’d really like a refreshing drink after you’re done with that run. Well, if you happen to be close to an establishment that accepts Android Pay, you’re in luck. That’s because Android Pay is finally coming to Wear 2.0. So if your watch happens to support NFC, you can just tap it to the reader to pay for that bottle of water.

Last but certainly not least, Wear 2.0 has a completely reimagined App store model. Before, the only way to load apps onto the watch was via a companion app. Not anymore. Now you can browse the Play Store right on the watch and even download certain apps directly, without the need for a corresponding phone app. This is especially useful if you have an iPhone — you’ll finally be able to download and use third-party apps regardless of what phone you have. Of course, not all apps can be operated as standalone — some will still require an Android phone for full functionality. But if you are an iPhone user, you won’t see them in the Play Store anyway; only compatible apps will show up on the watch.

On the whole, Android Wear 2.0 is a welcome improvement. It doesn’t just look better; it’s also much easier to use than before. What used to take several taps and swipes now just take one or two. The new messaging and fitness features are welcome as well. But it’s the introduction of Google Assistant and the standalone App Store that takes Wear 2.0 from good to great. Not only does it make Android Wear much less dependent on the phone, it’s also now that much more compatible with iOS — making it the toughest contender against the Apple Watch yet.

HBO Now racks up 2 million subscribers

HBO Now’s growth isn’t about to slow down any time soon, it seems. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes reports that the internet-only video service now has over 2 million customers — not bad when it hadn’t even reached 1 million a year ago. And a good chunk of that may have come recently, as the company’s financial chief noted that there was a “nice uptick” in over-the-top (read: online) subscriber growth as of late.

It’s not certain what prompted the rise in demand, although there are a few likely factors at work. Increased accessibility no doubt helps, as you’re more likely to spend that $15 per month if you know you can watch HBO on your PlayStation or Xbox. Gradually increasing internet speeds make streaming a more realistic option. And of course, good programming is key — the one-two combo of Game of Thrones and Westworld no doubt helped persuade some viewers.

As for extending the streak? Time Warner says it’s planning to add more digital distribution allies to reach people who wouldn’t normally see its marketing (think cord cutters and others who don’t watch much conventional TV). There’s no telling that this will be enough, but it’s clear that the focus is shifting away from the novelty of internet-only HBO and more on its merits.

Source: Variety