Android Wear is about to get prettier , best , and more useful . In a new update that begins rolling out today , the smartwatch OS will not only be incur some much - requested functionality , but it will feature a bevy of new sentinel - faces that are absolutely drool - worthy .
Those Modern sentinel faces are the main fresh feature here . Google has let loose its Watch Face API for developer , and now we get to see the first example of what it can do . Google partner with a duo dozen designers , marque , and artists beforehand of the launch , and some of the scout faces they ’ve made are truly impressive . And they ’re more than just moderately faces . Using the Watch Face API developers can integrate affair like weather , calendar data point , height , data from sensors on the picket or the phone , or data coming from a specific app .
For model , there ’s the case made by the cycling company Specialized . In addition to having a cool carbon fiber expression , it exhibit the current weather , the sun rise and sun set times , and your current speed , which I assume it pulls from Specialized ’s app . But it ’s a not bad example of information a wheeler might want at a coup d’oeil . If surfboarding is your thing , Surfline has a watch face that expose local tide information , wafture forecast and condition , plus wind steering and focal ratio .

There are also those that are just manifestly pretty , like the above model from X - ray artistHugh Turvey . There ’s a stark , dewy-eyed watch cheek from typographic designerCraig Ward , a bronzy one from fashion designerRebecca Minkoff , and certain , why not , cute niggling minion from Despicable Me . The thought is that there will be the perfect - looking sentry face for whatever you ’re wearing , and for any occasion . That ’s all effective clobber , but there is one watch face that I am way too frantic about …
PAC - MAN ! Yup , Bandai - Namco made a Pac - Man vigil face . Pac - Man himself becomes the second - hand , and he goes around the clock eating dots , fruit , and touch . It just shows the time of day . That ’s it . No atmospheric condition , no sensor data , but I love it and I want it on my articulatio radiocarpea now and you will not stop me .
You ’ll be able to download these fresh watch faces one at a clip from a special subsection set up up on Google Play , so it should make the new faces light to find and as simple to install as any other Android app .

But wait there’s more!
This Android Wear update is more than just a pretty face . There are a bunch of new features coming , too , some of which we ’ve been asking for since June .
First up , you ’ll at long last be able to undo your accidental board removal . Maybe you ’re used to Tinder where right swiping is a good thing , and you incidentally trench a card you were n’t yet done with . Well , now when you lift a board away you ’ll have about 5 second to stumble Undo and get it back .
There are also two new modes : Sunlight mode and Theater mode . sun modality temporarily boosts the screen brightness level for a scant period of time of fourth dimension , so if you ’re suddenly in the blaze sun and struggling to translate your watch you wo n’t have to wade through a million circumstance to get to it . Theater mode is the opposition . flip over it on , and the filmdom goes whole black and all incoming notice are dull . Google is leverage the computer hardware button on your scout ( should it have one ) so a doubled - click pops you into Theatre modality and a triple click dad you into Sunlight mood . Handy .

Google ’s also revamped the top - down swipe gesture . Currently , swiping down from the top just toggle presentment deaf-and-dumb person on and off , but now it ’s a handful of quick options , include Sunlight and Theater musical mode . If your spotter is pair with a phone running Lollipop ( Android 5.0 ) then you ’ll be able to select whether you want all notifications , no notifications , or just precedency notifications with background that you find out .
Another tweak : Currently when you tap your lookout display you get the Speak Now screen , then you have to swipe up to get to the launching screenland where you pick an action or app to start out . Now that will be unite , so you rap the screenland and it ’s ready for your voice program line , but it ’s also already displaying the launching button . Even considerably , your most frequently used apps will be displayed first so they ’ll be easier to access .
There are other improvement included , too , such as an easy way to block notifications from any app directly from your picket and purportedly hundreds of bug - fixes that may or may not be obvious . This is belike the big update Android Wear has had so far , and it ’s skillful to see that Google seems to be taking it seriously and iterating often . Seems like it ’s intent on get Android Wear up to snuff before the Apple Watch hit in a few month . Ca n’t await for that arms race to lead off . [ Google ]

AndroidAndroid WearGoogleSmartwatchesWatcheswearables
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