Google Said to be Readying Pair of Own-Branded Smartwatches

[MacRumors]

One week after news emerged that Google is working on its own smartphone hardware to compete with the likes of Apple's iPhone, a separate report this week claims the company is also set to enter the wearable market with a pair of Google-branded smartwatches.

As with its Android mobile operations, the company has traditionally focused on developing its Android Wear OS while relying on third-party manufacturers to come up with the hardware.

Motorola Moto 360 watches running Android Wear​

However, on Wednesday Android Police cited "reliable" sources with knowledge of Google's wearable hardware project, which is said to involve two smartwatches codenamed "Angelfish" and "Swordfish", both with circular displays.

The Angelfish model will reportedly bear similarities to the Motorola Moto 360, with a design that features visible lugs and a housing that curves at the point where the wristband meets the device's body. A 43.5mm diameter accommodates a larger battery and LTE chip that will let the watch connect to cellular networks.

A large circular button at the center of the watch's right side and a pair of smaller circular buttons above and below it will provide physical interaction. While there's no information on what functions the buttons offer, the device is said to feature GPS and a heart-rate monitor, which in addition to LTE capabilities, will make it a true standalone device.

The second, smaller Swordfish model is said to resemble a Pebble Time Round watch, sans the large screen bezel, offering a more rounded look. A single button at the center of its right side will function similarly to the Apple Watch's Digital Crown, but the device won't have GPS or heart-rate monitoring capabilities.

Both devices will have Google Assistant integration and support contextual notifications, with the potential of other unique features not found on third-party watches running Android Wear OS. No information on price points was offered for the devices, while Google declined to comment.

Unlike the company's phones which are said to be coming this year, it's not clear when Google plans to release the watches, although they could potentially appear alongside Google's next range of Nexus smartphones slated for 2016, or with the launch of Android Wear 2.0 this fall.

Apple meanwhile is said to be launching a second-generation Apple Watch later this year, possibly in the fall, putting it on the same upgrade cycle as the iPhone.

For the Apple Watch 2, Apple is said to be working on implementing cellular network connectivity and a faster processor. Built-in cellular capabilities would allow the Apple Watch to place calls, send messages, and access data without the need for an iPhone, while a faster processor would result in speed improvements when accessing apps.

watchOS 3, also debuting this fall, brings a dedicated Breathe app, instant-open apps, a new dock housing favorite apps, a new Control Center, and more.

Article Link: Google Said to be Readying Pair of Own-Branded Smartwatches

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Ready for one of them to not be round. (am not implying Apple invented rounded-req watches, Samboys)

 

[xDKP]

Pretty interesting strategy Google has, to be a supplier and competitor with their partners at the same time - seems to be working out okay with the nexus devices compared with the other brands, but still

 

[John Mcgregor]

Care as long as they are circle round.

 

[shiseiryu1]

I suspect Apple may eventually release a round version of the Apple Watch. Kinda like how it was late to offer huge phones, maybe they'll do the round watch when the numbers will support it. Would make sense for those who favor the round design. Would probably be a ton of work to make everything take advantage of the shape.

Will be curious to see if the new watch will look any different. My guess is with Ive's obsession with thinness that the watch will be made slightly thinner. I know some people prefer a thick watch but that's not me.

 

[Kabeyun]

Googlerumors.com?
Androidwear.com?
Techstuffthatcompeteswithapple.com?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Pretty interesting strategy Google has, to be a supplier and competitor with their partners at the same time - seems to be working out okay with the nexus devices compared with the other brands, but still

Not much different than what MS decided it had to do regarding tablets. I think Google recognizes wearables are becoming necessary extension of the the OS market and the current crop of Android watches is lacking. Apple isn't too far ahead of the pack so Google sees an opportunity to get in and produce something more viable using Android.

Question is, can they. Google design isn't usually the prettiest, handsomest, or even coolest around. Usually its kinda clunky. But I look forward to seeing what they have in mind. I'm not yet "committed" to AW like I am iPhone. I don't think I'm alone, esp. those tens of millions of consumers that don't own a wearable or just an activity band. I'm seeing a ton of Fitbit wearers these days. A few AW wearers. But nothing else in the way of electronic bands.
[doublepost=1467982702][/doublepost]

I suspect Apple may eventually release a round version of the Apple Watch.

If Apple wants to really pierce the "fashion" watch segment that is a must. The AW design is really rather inelegant unlike a classic round watch. The only rectangle watches I've see that look nice are ladies dress watches. Men's analog rectangle/square watches just look dated from the 50s/60s. Cool if it's an actual watch from that era. Not so much if it's a modern approach. I give you all the fugly digital watches from the 80s.

 

[Mr. Donahue]

I can't believe Apple hasn't opened a watch face store or allowed third party watch faces or made even more than they recently announced.

 

[merkinmuffley]

Round is good, wonder if they'll have anything new in them.

 

[Good User Name]

I can't believe Apple hasn't opened a watch face store or allowed third party watch faces or made even more than they recently announced.

Can devs even make their own watch faces?

 

[xDKP]

I can't believe Apple hasn't opened a watch face store or allowed third party watch faces or made even more than they recently announced.

With the looks of the "Watch Gallery" is there a small chance they will open it with an update this fall?

 

[satchmo]

Question is, can they. Google design isn't usually the prettiest, handsomest, or even coolest around.

If Apple wants to really pierce the "fashion" watch segment that is a must. The AW design is really rather inelegant unlike a classic round watch. The only rectangle watches I've see that look nice are ladies dress watches. Men's analog rectangle/square watches just look dated from the 50s/60s. Cool if it's an actual watch from that era. Not so much if it's a modern approach. I give you all the fugly digital watches from the 80s.

But good design isn't only about aesthetics, it's also about function. I suspect Apple chose rectangular because of the additional screen space that it provides.

Of course good software design would negate that need and Watch OS included everything but the kitchen sink.
There's something to be said about simplicity and it looks like Watch OS3 is headed that way. So maybe a round Apple watch is not totally out of the realm of possibility.

 

[KazKam]

Hey look, it's the Moto 270. I wonder who's still rocking one of those. OK, I really don't, the answer is no one. I'd go Pebble Round before one of those pieces of garbage.

I don't know why everyone gets all excited about round smart watch faces. It's a mechanical constraint/convention shoe-horned onto a digital device. A rectangular display makes waaaaay more sense for a smart watch, for both efficiency and functionality.

Let it be what it is. This is the same mistake the rest of the phone industry made when the iPhone arrived. They kept thinking of it as a phone with a touchscreen, when in fact it was a pocket computer that could make phone calls. Stop thinking about smart watches as watches with a touch screen, they are touchscreen computers on your wrist that also happen to tell time.

 

[69Mustang]

Not much different than what MS decided it had to do regarding tablets. I think Google recognizes wearables are becoming necessary extension of the the OS market and the current crop of Android watches is lacking. Apple isn't too far ahead of the pack so Google sees an opportunity to get in and produce something more viable using Android.

Question is, can they. Google design isn't usually the prettiest, handsomest, or even coolest around. Usually its kinda clunky. But I look forward to seeing what they have in mind. I'm not yet "committed" to AW like I am iPhone. I don't think I'm alone, esp. those tens of millions of consumers that don't own a wearable or just an activity band. I'm seeing a ton of Fitbit wearers these days. A few AW wearers. But nothing else in the way of electronic bands.

I'm surprised someone would find Google's action surprising. As you said it's similar to MS creating reference hardware to get OEM's off their ass and stop with the lazy design. If Google designs something decent, it might make me get off the bench and get into the smartwatch game. Hopefully, one of their designs will incorporate something similar to Samsung's bezel navigation. If they had intro'd an Android Wear version instead of Tizen, they would have possibly gotten some of my scratch. I'm still on the fence regarding the value proposition of smartwatches. Maybe a gen or 2 from now when the battery tech should be better.

Round is where it's at for me. The AW looks too unisex and appliance-like for my taste.

 

[GenesisST]

Googlerumors.com?
Androidwear.com?
Techstuffthatcompeteswithapple.com?

Well, if we're going that route, the site is called MACrumors.com yet we have news/rumours about iPhone, TV, Watch, iPod Hi-fi, etc...

That said, the site has grown to be bigger than just Mac or Apple.

 

[Glassed Silver]

I can't believe Apple hasn't opened a watch face store or allowed third party watch faces or made even more than they recently announced.

I'm calling it now: Apple Watch 2 key feature.

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[Chupa Chupa]

But good design isn't only about aesthetics, it's also about function. I suspect Apple chose rectangular because of the additional screen space that it provides.
Of course good software design would negate that need and Watch OS included everything but the kitchen sink.
There's something to be said about simplicity and it looks like Watch OS3 is headed that way. So maybe a round Apple watch is not totally out of the realm of possibility.

Yes, but we are talking about two different design areas - one the "face" of the product, the other the "guts." Lots of tech companies can do one or other other. Apple's true claim to fame is that it has routinely produced products that are both amazing looking and functional and easy to use. Much of that was Steve Jobs pushing engineers, telling them "do it" when they said "unpossible." Suddenly it came possible. (Yes, he wasn't always right, but certainly enough times to give Apple it's reputation for design, both aesthetic and functionality.

That doesn't extend to the AW IMHO. It's a metal slab with no personality, likely for the reason you suggest -- it's easier to design functionality with a rectangle because that is the shop of a computer screen. Sure you can play "dress up" with it and put on a variety of different bands to mask its look, but the body remains the same boring slab. If Apple designed this in its true tradition they would have made something that looked like WOW! sexier than a <insert any coveted fine watch>.

So, yes, hopefully that day is coming when Apple will feel the need to truly diversify body styles and we'll see round ones.

 

[2457282]

If Apple wants to really pierce the "fashion" watch segment that is a must. The AW design is really rather inelegant unlike a classic round watch. The only rectangle watches I've see that look nice are ladies dress watches. Men's analog rectangle/square watches just look dated from the 50s/60s. Cool if it's an actual watch from that era. Not so much if it's a modern approach. I give you all the fugly digital watches from the 80s.

Well just one example of current square watches not from the 50s/60s -
http://www.watchmaxx.com/watch/cart...erm=W5200027&gclid=CKew04yO5M0CFQEJaQodc0MHfA

 

[OllyW]

Well just one example of current square watches not from the 50s/60s -
http://www.watchmaxx.com/watch/cart...erm=W5200027&gclid=CKew04yO5M0CFQEJaQodc0MHfA

That's not a great example because it's a modern version of a 60 year old Cartier Tank, which itself came from a family of similar watches dating back to 1917.

 

[2457282]

That's not a great example because it's a modern version of a 60 year old Cartier Tank, which itself came from a family of similar watches dating back to 1917.

Yes this is true, but at least in my mind that was the point entirely. Square watches have been around since forever. It's not that round is the only watch style. I remember my grandfather wore a gold Omega square watch his entire life (something that I still have in a drawer somewhere). I think that Apple could and probably should release a round watch at some point because there is a camp of rounders out there. But other than a Movado watch that was given to me as a gift, all my watches have always been square. The AW being square is a good thing in my book and clearly supported by the fashion watches throughout the world.

The original poster was insinuating that square watches were a fad in the 50/60s and I was trying to make the point that square is still around as it has always been.

 

[OllyW]

Yes this is true, but at least in my mind that was the point entirely. Square watches have been around since forever. It's not that round is the only watch style. I remember my grandfather wore a gold Omega square watch his entire life (something that I still have in a drawer somewhere). I think that Apple could and probably should release a round watch at some point because there is a camp of rounders out there. But other than a Movado watch that was given to me as a gift, all my watches have always been square. The AW being square is a good thing in my book and clearly supported by the fashion watches throughout the world.

The original poster was insinuating that square watches were a fad in the 50/60s and I was trying to make the point that square is still around as it has always been.

They were a lot more popular up to the 50's and 60's but are a more of a niche product these days.

I'm opposite to you, I don't like square and rectangular watches and it's the main reason putting me off trying the Apple Watch.

 

[robeddie]

Pretty interesting strategy Google has, to be a supplier and competitor with their partners at the same time - seems to be working out okay with the nexus devices compared with the other brands, but still

For years, Samsung has been a huge supplier for Apple and a huge competitor.
So that strategy is neither new, or questionable in terms of business wisdom
[doublepost=1467992818][/doublepost]On another note - I'll never get all this talk about the 'style' of a watch. At the end of the day its a tiny object on your wrist that almost no one notices and even fewer care about.
It's like if there were a blue jeans forum with a thread 17 pages long about what tint of blue in the jeans would be best for me, or how many belt loops fits my 'style'. This all seems equally trivial and silly.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Well just one example of current square watches not from the 50s/60s -

Well, it's not exactly a modern design. It's a classic Cartier style that dates back to WWI era, when it introduced the soon-to-be-famous Tank watch. It's a Cartier icon, not a copy. But, to my point, generally, non-dress watches in 2016 are round, not that none exist.

 

[IJ Reilly]

They were a lot more popular up to the 50's and 60's but are a more of a niche product these days.

I'm opposite to you, I don't like square and rectangular watches and it's the main reason putting me off trying the Apple Watch.

Not to pick on you, since so many have made this comment, month after month, but honestly isn't this a wholly superficial and arbitrary judgement? Your first order design criterion is shape, just because the thing straps on your wrist?

At times like these I thank my lucky stars that I not an industrial designer.

 

[bluespark]

If Apple wants to really pierce the "fashion" watch segment that is a must. The AW design is really rather inelegant unlike a classic round watch. The only rectangle watches I've see that look nice are ladies dress watches. Men's analog rectangle/square watches just look dated from the 50s/60s. Cool if it's an actual watch from that era. Not so much if it's a modern approach. I give you all the fugly digital watches from the 80s.

Apple already has had strong appeal among the fashion watch segment. And it has done so in part because it was not content to imitate traditional watches. Rather, it chose the shape that best serves the device's purpose. That's what design is all about.