Hi all!
I'm been searching on google for quite a while, but can't find any information in regards to the number of active android wear users. I'd also like to know advanced information such as how much is spent on android wear apps etc as I'm thinking of developing a game for the platform. It would also be handy to have the same statistics for the apple watch if possible. Does anyone have any idea where I can find the data I'm looking for?
Cheers!
I'd also be curious to see this data. Doesn't help that the likes of Apple won't release their sales figures, and the top charts for Android Wear apps include both apps for the watch and apps that are really meant for the phone and do very little for the watch beyond push notifications.
Related
The Wear SDK doesn't appear to have anything similar to the Pebblekit JS Framework. Does this mean that any watch app that wants to access the internet (such as a simple weather app) will need a dedicated companion phone app? Or am I missing something?
The Wear emulator technically looks like Android, but on a small screen, and with a different "launcher".
You can run many existing Android apps on it. I tried one of mine, and it worked, more or less, but the UI was squished as would be expected.
This is why it's called "Android Wear". It's just an Android variant. There may be some "normal" Android APIs it won't support, and there will be watch specific APIs I'm sure.
IMO, it makes sense and is smart of Google to do this. I don't want to deal with 10 different smartwatch OS's.
NOW is the time for a bigger, richer smartwatch OS, because it's now possible to put enough ARM compute power in a watch sized device.
I presume that Google Play will support watch apps at some point. And I'm looking forward to seeing custom watch ROMs. I hope there won't be too much locking down of devices, or at least a Nexus watch or 2 that can be unlocked.
I agree with all of your comments, but I also think the cool thing about pebble is that I can write a watch app that will, for example, get weather from a JSON source on the internet without requiring the user to install another phone app. I don't think you can do that with Wear.
I was looking forward to install apps, develop apps and use apps on the android wear. When I installed the android wear sdk, and ran the emulator, it didn't seem very "huge". Not much can be done!
http://developer.android.com/wear/notifications/creating.html
As linked above, Google tells us to that we can add support for wear in a few lines of code. What can be done, is limited to the buttons that can be added when swiping to the right page.
No other documentation suggest that we can make Android Wear specific apps. It's not possible to add controls and widgets (Editabletext, button, spinner etc.) like it's possible in full android. Now i know that the screen is small, and limitations has to apply..
But the limitations are counted. Imagine receiving an email, swipe right, theres a reply button, click on it, voice will be activated, speak your message, and it will send it. That's pretty cool, but not cool enough..
What if i would like to add someone to cc?, not possible using the sdk, what if i would like to add a different signature? not possible.
The idea is fine, and it's awesome to see something new, i could really see it's potential, but as of right now, i am kinda disappointed.
I was noticing this also from the non developer point of view. All the marketing of the product it's based on notifications, at least the Gear was able to support the installation of apk's and i was excited since Android was about to release his own watch it was going to unleash all the real power of the smartwatches, but getting notifications from my mom telling me to buy milk does not sound like very awesome to me.
When Android Wear was first announced, I also heard that it was only for notifications. If that is really the case, I'm not interested and will keep my Gear 2 for now.
I think notifications are one of the obvious benefits, but there's going to be a lot more that we figure out how to do with them.
Sure, the interface is restrictive, but that's kinda the idea. The real benefit will be adding that little extra special sauce to the notifications in the context of whatever else is going on. And notifications don't need to just be a note from Dear Old Mom... geolocation, sensors, and other things may come into play.
After reading most of the AD site I sorta feel like you do when you know in about a hour and and a half you're going to have to have a seat on the pot - I know I've got a potential big idea in there somewhere, but it's just not ready to come out yet.
johdaxx said:
I think notifications are one of the obvious benefits, but there's going to be a lot more that we figure out how to do with them.
Sure, the interface is restrictive, but that's kinda the idea. The real benefit will be adding that little extra special sauce to the notifications in the context of whatever else is going on. And notifications don't need to just be a note from Dear Old Mom... geolocation, sensors, and other things may come into play.
After reading most of the AD site I sorta feel like you do when you know in about a hour and and a half you're going to have to have a seat on the pot - I know I've got a potential big idea in there somewhere, but it's just not ready to come out yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only potential scenario i see working, is having a service, on the phone. That service will have created a notification, showing relevant information, let's say it's showing when sunrise and sunset (depending on the time of the day), if you swipe to the right, you can click on "Show someother info". When you tap that, it will start showing some other information, the service will then have altered the text on the notification.
Thats a potential and very possible scenario. Then again.. Is it really optimal? Apps that need to show this kind of information will take up all the notification space on the phone.
Hi everyone,
I have not found this info so far, so I'm asking here:
Can Android Wear Smartwatches be equipped with custom watchfaces out of the box, like the Pebble? I know that Motorola is planning something like this, but I'd like to know, whether we'd be stuck with whatever Samsung, LG or whoever made the device allows, or if we can install Watchfaces from the Playstore/other sources? This would be a big factor for different screentypes, AMOLED could benefit greatly from Black and White watchfaces for example.
The same goes for the general theme/style. Is that alway "stock" Google Now look, or can we adjust it to fit our needs and/or to conserve power on AMOLED screens?
Thanks.
You can find Google I/O prese.tation on youtube and just find Android Wear presentation. It shows watchfaces, wallpapers etc.
Short answer - Yes you can change everything.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
skraam said:
You can find Google I/O prese.tation on youtube and just find Android Wear presentation. It shows watchfaces, wallpapers etc.
Short answer - Yes you can change everything.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
I was aware of the wallpapers, but not sure about watchfaces, since those are, according to what I read, the only things manufacturers (eg. Samsung, Sony et al) are allowed to customize. Now, just because Sammy is allowed to customized doesn't mean they'll allow me to customize...
I'll rewatch it and see what exactly they say...
UPDATE: I watched the presentaion again, but did not find any concrete evidence either way. Apps can have a custom UI, but I found nothing on 3rd party watchfaces.
Another question just popped up in my brain: What happens when the watch is not connected to the phone? How much functionality remains?
Also, can you actually answer a call on the watch? I'd assume not, since it has no speaker...
CommanderROR said:
Thanks,
I was aware of the wallpapers, but not sure about watchfaces, since those are, according to what I read, the only things manufacturers (eg. Samsung, Sony et al) are allowed to customize. Now, just because Sammy is allowed to customized doesn't mean they'll allow me to customize...
I'll rewatch it and see what exactly they say...
UPDATE: I watched the presentaion again, but did not find any concrete evidence either way. Apps can have a custom UI, but I found nothing on 3rd party watchfaces.
Another question just popped up in my brain: What happens when the watch is not connected to the phone? How much functionality remains?
Also, can you actually answer a call on the watch? I'd assume not, since it has no speaker...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regarding 3rd party watchfaces, that functionality isn't available today but has been promised in an upcoming release. Wear devices currently run Android 4.4W so I would assume it will roll out with L (if not before).
Just tested the functionality of the LG watch when not connected to a phone. It has limited functionality. No voice commands (because it normally uses the internet through your mobile device) but you do have access to the basics: steps, agenda, timers, timers alarms, stopwatch, etc and apps that don't require internet.
When you receive a call can answer/decline or decline & send a text (with preset and on the fly voice I think) straight from the watch but I believe you will need to use your phone or another Bluetooth device to actually talk the the person on the other end.
Hope this helps.
Thanks. That does help!
Android Wear watch face
CommanderROR said:
Hi everyone,
I have not found this info so far, so I'm asking here:
Can Android Wear Smartwatches be equipped with custom watchfaces out of the box, like the Pebble? I know that Motorola is planning something like this, but I'd like to know, whether we'd be stuck with whatever Samsung, LG or whoever made the device allows, or if we can install Watchfaces from the Playstore/other sources? This would be a big factor for different screentypes, AMOLED could benefit greatly from Black and White watchfaces for example.
The same goes for the general theme/style. Is that alway "stock" Google Now look, or can we adjust it to fit our needs and/or to conserve power on AMOLED screens?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont see any watch face yet for Android Wear but there are already watch faces in the Android Wear itself available for you..
Custom Watch Faces for Android Wear
Yes I dont see any watch faces yet hope they will have an app for editing and creating your own watch face for Android Wear..:cyclops:
senseijuan said:
Yes I dont see any watch faces yet hope they will have an app for editing and creating your own watch face for Android Wear..:cyclops:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom watch faces for Android Wear start appearing in the Play Store
Good evening - I'm a long time lurker at XDA and have gleaned a lot of useful information from this site, so thanks for that.
I have a client who is looking to build prototype for a device containing only one app, for a very young market, which will be the only app runnable on the device (think a smartwatch tamagotchi) - the priorities are that there's bluetooth, wifi and an accelerometer fully accessible to the app, and that the watch be relatively cheap. Now, while I've been a developer and sysadmin for a number of years, this is my first Android or wearable project, so I wanted to see if anyone had any useful tips on approaches to take, and devices to try for this prototype. (Also, I know the idea of locking down a device like this might be an anathema to people posting here. See this as an academic exercise in what's possible.)
As far as the approach goes, it seems to me I have a few options:
- Get a watch already running Android Wear, develop the app using Google's APIs and see if I can the modify the OS to boot into a single app.
- Get a (probably cheaper) watch which I can then flash with a ROM built by someone else, but will still allow me to access the accelerometer, then lock this down
- As above, but build my own ROM, containing only my app.
As far as devices go, we've had a look at some £20 Chinese wonders with MediaTek MT2502 chips, but I couldn't see how I'd get into them to flash a new ROM and I could't find anyone here using the same model. I've been looking at the MOTOACTV, which I see has many fans, but am also quite happy to consider other (particularly cheaper) alternatives, as long as I'll be able to develop something for them, get to the accelerometer and eventually send data to a server.
Sorry for the long post. Any advice?
I live in a rural area where my best chance of getting service relies on having my phone shoved in a window. However, I carry a Samsung Gear Live on a daily basis, and it's very convenient and capable.
Because of where my phone is placed, I often have no access to it, and I do a lot of things at home that don't warrant wearing a watch, not to mention it's not exactly comfortable. Because of this, I've searched for various solutions to the problem of using my phone when I'm away from the phone. Thus far, there's obvious options like AirDroid, but that's unappealing since you need to leave this tab open at all times.
Yappy was an idea, but what made it most painful is it hardly ever sent my texts, and there was no configuration or history for the notifications when it passed through. Apparently, Microsoft's Cortana can integrate with the phone to allow notifications and texting from the PC.
What just baffles me is... why is there no app or extension that just uses the Wear API? Am I missing something, or is there just nothing out there that can connect via the Wear API, to offer as many features as a Wear watch, and not need to do much more than that? I imagine a simple app that connects like that would work just fine. I do understand the case of there being Wear apps that it would wanna use, but I also know that 4.4W was very rudimentary. So rudimentary, I couldn't even install much more than a Wear Bottle Spinner app. No new watch faces, no Skype or Music integration. It's so simple, I could imagine someone using the basic 4.4W framework to create an app to connect to Android Wear.
I'm unimpressed by the existence of apps that do their own thing, like Desktop Notifications, or Yappy, that ask you to use their apps together to achieve the best results. A Chrome extension, a Windows application, something simple that just connects with Android Wear over Wi-Fi. I think it's so simple, but so capable.
Have I just not searched enough? Am I missing something, a core aspect that makes it impossible to use the API in a simple Chrome extension, or has there just been no one who wanted to do it?
UltimaXtreme said:
I live in a rural area where my best chance of getting service relies on having my phone shoved in a window. However, I carry a Samsung Gear Live on a daily basis, and it's very convenient and capable.
Because of where my phone is placed, I often have no access to it, and I do a lot of things at home that don't warrant wearing a watch, not to mention it's not exactly comfortable. Because of this, I've searched for various solutions to the problem of using my phone when I'm away from the phone. Thus far, there's obvious options like AirDroid, but that's unappealing since you need to leave this tab open at all times.
Yappy was an idea, but what made it most painful is it hardly ever sent my texts, and there was no configuration or history for the notifications when it passed through. Apparently, Microsoft's Cortana can integrate with the phone to allow notifications and texting from the PC.
What just baffles me is... why is there no app or extension that just uses the Wear API? Am I missing something, or is there just nothing out there that can connect via the Wear API, to offer as many features as a Wear watch, and not need to do much more than that? I imagine a simple app that connects like that would work just fine. I do understand the case of there being Wear apps that it would wanna use, but I also know that 4.4W was very rudimentary. So rudimentary, I couldn't even install much more than a Wear Bottle Spinner app. No new watch faces, no Skype or Music integration. It's so simple, I could imagine someone using the basic 4.4W framework to create an app to connect to Android Wear.
I'm unimpressed by the existence of apps that do their own thing, like Desktop Notifications, or Yappy, that ask you to use their apps together to achieve the best results. A Chrome extension, a Windows application, something simple that just connects with Android Wear over Wi-Fi. I think it's so simple, but so capable.
Have I just not searched enough? Am I missing something, a core aspect that makes it impossible to use the API in a simple Chrome extension, or has there just been no one who wanted to do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse