Android 5.0 has already started to make its way out to smartphones and tablets, and now the time for Lollipop-flavored smartwatches has come.
Google today announced a major update for Android Wear that’ll bring some huge watch face improvements. That include the ability to download watch faces from Google Play, just like you already do with apps. Google is already offering a ton of different watch faces with themes like Pac-Man, Plants vs. Zombies, Despicable Me and more.
Google is also making a new Watch Face API available to all developers, meaning that the selection of watch faces will continue to grow in the future.
The Android Wear app will soon receive an update to make it easier to browse, download and switch watch faces easier. This update will roll out “over the next week.”
Also included in Android Wear’s Lollipop update is support for undoing a card dismissal, recently-used actions that’ll appear at the top of a list when you tap a watch face, the ability to change some settings by swiping down from the top of your watch’s screen, a theater mode that’ll turn off your screen and mute vibrations and a sunlight mode to boost brightness, and support for blocking app notifications from your watch. Additionally, you’ll be able to see which apps are using your watch’s battery and storage.
Overall this looks like the biggest update to hit Android Wear yet. Not only will it be easier to create and download new faces for customizing your watch, but usability improvements like a theater mode and blocking app notifications from your watch could make users want to go out with their Android Wear watches more often.
Google says that these updates will begin rolling out over the next week. Do you have an Android Wear device? If not, does this update make you want to get one?
