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Google Close to Finishing Android Wear App for iOS

spectrumfox said:
Be careful you do not confuse honesty with hatred. They are two very different things.

I use Apple products on a daily basis, and I like them, but I will not bow down to the company and their practices. I am still allowed to criticize, and I do.

Nothing good comes of having your opinions and thoughts influenced by multi-billion dollar companies.
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Cool, I wasn't sure if I should by the Apple Watch but since you seem to hate on Apple so much and still buy their products anyway that you have convinced me that they must make really good products then.

Because only a fool would depart with their hard earned money to buy products that they ultimately don't like and you certainly aren't a fool.
 
The Google Now cards are a very good fit for a watch. Far more useful than Passbook. It's creepy that they scan your mails, but at least it works. Never had the opportunity to use a Passbook before (Belgium, Europe)
 
coolfactor said:
Yup, the FaceTime tech produces a better quality video/audio experience than Skype in low-bandwidth situations. It's a real shame that they didn't follow through on that promise of making it open-source. We might have the iChat-like multi-party chat experience by now, and I'd be able to use FaceTime with my Android friends. Right now, they go "FaceTime? What's that?".... such a divided world we live in. Thanks Apple.

(Possibly some licensing issues at hand with that, but I'll still blame Apple's greediness) :p
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While I would also love for FaceTime and iMessage to be opened up (Apple could even charge a license fee and make even more money) I think there may be another problem...porting software to a different platform is never as easy as we all would like it to be.

In Apples specific case, this shows very clearly when you look at Apple software for Windows...which is usualy...well...not up to apple standards, to put it kindly. Even though some people claim that this is on purpose to make windows look bad (I don't agree as this experience is the first contact with the apple world for most people...that would be like handing out a dirty businesscard to make a conference look bad) I think it is a good indication how much harder it is to develop for a variety of hardware as it is to develop for a rather limited number of configurations.

Additionaly, as those services in question interact with apple servers...and taking into accout apples track record with handling webservices...they may think it would be more then they can handle. (Global Marketshare of iOS is somewhere around 20%, so opening up imessage would mean a potential 5x higher burden for those services).

Anyway...I would love to have the "one solution for every contact" to keep communication streamlined (guess that is the reason so many people still use whatsapp, despite it being of only average quality AND being owned by facebook...everybody has it, on every platform)
 
I appreciate the choice it would give. Heck, there's no reason why someone couldn't have both an Apple Watch and an Android Wear watch, for different situations.

For example, I could see giving my youngest daughter a used Sony SW3 for its ability to be taken swimming in fresh water. I'd rather she didn't have a more expensive watch that she'd have to take off and leave where it could be stolen.

For runners / cyclers, the Sony has a GPS built-in. Soon there will be several Android Wear watches with built-in cellular connections, meaning you could leave your phone behind. (oops those are not Android Wear, duh!)

Many AWear watches currently have longer battery life and/or the ability to keep the watchface always visible. In some situations, these could be quite handy. (Meetings, camping, rock climbing, you name it.)

Being able to use AWear also gives alternative style choices. Many AWear watches take standard wristbands. There are different display shapes. In a group of people all sporting similar Apple Watches, a person with a round watch and custom band is going to stand out as unique. For examples:

huawei-watch-gold.jpghuawei-watch-silver.jpg

LG_WATCH_URBANE_2.jpg

I'm also betting that we'll soon see smaller form factor watches targeted especially at women.

Most of all, it would bring some competition to Apple, and we all know that helps everyone.
 
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kdarling said:
I appreciate the choice it would give. Also, there's no reason why someone couldn't have both an Apple Watch and an Android Wear watch, for different situations.

For example, I could see giving my youngest daughter a used Sony SW3 for its ability to be taken swimming in fresh water. I'd rather she didn't have a more expensive watch that she'd have to take off and leave where it could be stolen.

For runners / cyclers, the Sony has a GPS built-in. Soon there will be several Android Wear watches with built-in cellular connections, meaning you could leave your phone behind.

Many AWear watches currently have longer battery life and/or the ability to keep the watchface always visible. In some situations, these could be quite handy. (Meetings, camping, rock climbing, you name it.)

Being able to use AWear also gives alternative style choices. Many AWear watches take standard wristbands. There are different display shapes. In a group of people all sporting similar Apple Watches, a person with a round watch and custom band is going to stand out as unique. For examples:

View attachment 539619View attachment 539620

View attachment 539621

I'm also betting that we'll soon see smaller form factor watches targeted especially at women.

Most of all, it would bring some competition to Apple, and we all know that helps everyone.
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how would that work? will they connect to your phone wherever it is located or a separate phone number for the watch?
 
numlock said:
how would that work? will they connect to your phone wherever it is located or a separate phone number for the watch?
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I believe from what I've read, that the LTE Urbane, which doesn't actually run Android Wear, but something else to mimmick it, will contain it's own SIM card and LTE antenna and allow it to receive data, notifications and the like on it's own without the need of a phone.

so you will likely need a stand alone sim card for it, thus it's own plan (or shared plan)
 
numlock said:
how would that work? will they connect to your phone wherever it is located or a separate phone number for the watch?
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Ooops. I mixed up the standalone cellular watches with Android Wear. I blame my wife for interrupting my train of thought at the time :p

Thank you very much for catching that mistake! I've struck through it, but left it as a lesson to myself to not get rushed.
 
ezhilk said:
If Motorola had sold just one 360 for every 10 persons who said they are going to buy a 360 because it looks "spectacular", they would have sold a billion 360s by now... :rolleyes:
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Yes, they do look good, and the price is right. Of course if they worked with the phone OS's those billion people have, they might have sold a billion by now. Ive got a BB and an iPhone, why should I buy a Moto 360 right now ???

McCool71 said:
You should have a closer look at one. There isn't much a year old Samsung Gear 2 (launched april 2014) cannot do that the Apple Watch does today. The Gear-series would have been hailed as the second coming if it had an Apple logo when the first version of it was launched in 2013.
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I'll pass. What I really want is a Pioneer TV. Oh, wait. When I had an Android device it was the M7.

If this story comes to pass, I'll take a long hard look at the 360. It looks good, and if it does what I want, its a no brainer.
 
laurim said:
No one knows what the app will allow a person to do. Basically the app is an emulator and emulators often suck. History shows that an app to make something work with another product by someone else will have a worse experience than two products that are made to work with each other from the start. The app will probably allow the basic functions and nothing else that makes the AppleWatch special. Will it connect with bluetooth AND wifi? No Siri, have to use Google speak. No Taptic engine. No AppleWatch apps. No handoff with Macs. No AppleCare/Genius Bar help. Just a few off the top of my head.
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Android wear with wifi and gesture support is coming soon. google vs siri?? i think google is better. bluetoth is already, what handoff are you talking??
we have to wait and see about apple watch app. google might have some trick up its sleeve
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
If only Jobs would have kept his promise and opened FaceTime so everyone could use it. Sure would be nice to be able to use it with Android friends too.
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Not sure if anyone else replied to you, but it was possibly a patent issue:

- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20236114
- http://www.imore.com/apple-fined-368-million-facetime-patent-case

Obviously there's a possibility they may have backtracked on the idea too.

I really like FaceTime, the quality and integration is superb. Having it open would've been great.
 
Keane16 said:
I really like FaceTime, the quality and integration is superb. Having it open would've been great.
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Possibly. Unfortunately everyone uses Skype. Apparently Betamax was better than VHS (before my time). So what?
 
coolfactor said:
You've got it backwards.

Android (phone) users can only use Android Wear(ables). iPhone users can use :apple:Watch AND Android Wear(ables). So iPhone users have more options, not less.
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Wrong.Samsung uses it's own operating system on there smart watches and not the Google sdk/api.

So none of the samsung watches will work.
 
doynton said:
Possibly. Unfortunately everyone uses Skype. Apparently Betamax was better than VHS (before my time). So what?
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Well "fortunately" I don't, so there's that. And all of my closest friends and family are all on FaceTime too. Might have to update your stats pal.
 
MikePLP said:
My brother has the Moto 360 and it looks HUGE on his normal size wrist. You better think twice if you think it looks good. Just because it's round doesn't mean it's better designed. Size does matter.

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Isn't that what's funny about design though? I'm allowed to think it looks better and you're allowed to think it doesn't. What I was saying was that I'm glad I'll possibly have the option to pick whichever watch I choose.
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seventhedition said:
MikePLP said:
My brother has the Moto 360 and it looks HUGE on his normal size wrist. You better think twice if you think it looks good. Just because it's round doesn't mean it's better designed. Size does matter.

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Isn't that what's funny about design though? I'm allowed to think it looks better and you're allowed to think it doesn't. What I was saying was that I'm glad I'll possibly have the option to pick whichever watch I choose.
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But I don't think Apple is in the business of designing something only a tiny percent of people will like. That's easy when you are making a cheap device but not for a high-quality item. I'd rather they concentrate on one smart design and p!ss off a few people with special requests. Round areas suck for textual display. They just do.
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AppStoreNerd said:
Android wear with wifi and gesture support is coming soon. google vs siri?? i think google is better. bluetoth is already, what handoff are you talking??
we have to wait and see about apple watch app. google might have some trick up its sleeve
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And you will soon be able to do all this on Google's wireless network service.
Only pay for data you use and get refunded for what you don't use.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/04/project-fi.html
 
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