News & Reviews:   Android Wear

It had been rumoured earlier on that Huawei would also be launching the Huawei Watch 2 alongside the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Some images appear on the internet today, purportedly those of the Huawei Watch 2.

Android Wear 2.0, which was supposed to be released in Q4 2016, was delayed, and is now finally seeing the light of the day. Now, if you’re one of the previous-generation Android Wear Smartwatch users, you must be wondering, “Would this new update arrive on my wrists?”. Well, the answer is, Yes, but only to certain devices. Google has, Thankfully, provided the full list of supported devices that will be getting the Android Wear 2.0 update once it becomes available for your smartwatch.

The long awaited Android Wear 2.0 update is now official. In collaboration with Google, LG had announced their Watch Style and Watch Sport smartwatches, the first smartwatches to come pre-installed with Android Wear 2.0. The Watch Style is priced at $249 (about RM1100) for titanium and silver, and $279 (about RM1240) for the rose gold, while the Watch Sport is priced at $349 (around RM1550) in titanium.

According to a new leak, ZTE seemed to be the latest company to join in on Android Wear. Allegedly called the ZTE Quartz, ZTE is working on its first smartwatch that runs Android Wear. Though, this is not ZTE’s first attempt at making wearables, as it had made smartwatches such as the W01, as well as Venus G1 and S2 activity trackers in the past.

LG has had plenty of leaks and rumours about its upcoming smartwatches for a while now. The LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style is rumoured to launch on February 9, alongside Android Wear 2.0. Fresh photographs from a Best Buy employee had leaked the alleged packaging of the LG Watch Style, and we now have a better idea of how it will look like. It sports a circular display with a single button on the right side, and looks pretty much like a standard watch with replaceable straps.

We like the Motorola Moto 360 – but according to a new report, we may not see another model come anytime soon. Motorola said that they do not have any plans to release a new smartwatch to coincide with Google’s Android Wear 2.0, which is due to be released in early 2017.

A new rumour popped up on the internet – saying that Google may be designing their own Android Wear device, to be set under the Nexus branding. Codenamed Angelfish and Swordfish – the two devices are probably going to be the new benchmark for Android Wear devices. 

If you've read the news of Samsung pulling out from making Android Wear recently, Samsung has responded to the rumour stating they are not quite done yet with it, and intends to stay on track, keeping the possibility of making future wearables open.

According to anti-Virus company Bit defender, the data transferred between an Android wearable and a smartphone is not secure. Wearables like smartwatches use a Bluetooth connection to send and receive information from the paired smartphones. While this connection is secure to some extent, it can easily be intercepted by hackers who would like to take a peek at the user's conversations. Bluetooth is usually considered secure because it can be accessed only from a short distance, about 10 meters or less. This restricts hackers from attacking a live connection from a long distance. Bluetooth also has its own six digit encryption system to keep hackers at bay. However, Bit defender reports that this six digit passcode is easily crackable by a computer program since there are only 1 million possible combinations. Once this encryption is cracked, hackers can get hold of all the information communicated from the smartwatch to the paired smartphone. Bit defender has also demonstrated a proof of concept video which is shown below. In the video, the company successfully brute-forced the six digit encryption between the Android based LG G Watch and the Nexus 4 smartphone running the developer preview version of Android L.

Google recently unveiled devices for their new Android Wear wearable operating system with three new smartwatches from major brands. This includes the LG G Watch, Motorola Moto 360 and Samsung Gear Live. While the Motorola Moto 360 and LG G Watch have both been announced, the Samsung Gear Live makes it's first appearance here. However, it is more or less the same in both look and feel as a Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch. Check out the tech specs and features of the LG G Watch, Motorola Moto 360 and Samsung Gear Live below:

• LG G Watch
• 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor
• 1.65-inch display (IPS, 280 x 280 pixel resolution)
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB storage
• 63g
• 400 mAh battery
• Compatible with device running Android 4.3 + Bluetooth 4.0
• IP67 certified
• $229 (RM740)