The LG Watch Style (left) and the Watch Sport are the first models of watches connected equipped with Android Wear 2.0. – GOOGLE
  • Published on
  • updated the

The second attempt will it be good ? Expected in the fall, the 2.0 update to Android Wear, the Google OS for watches connected, was officially launched on Tuesday. Like Apple, Google sets, this time, the emphasis on sport and mobile payment. The company is looking primarily to cut the cord between watches and smartphones, leveraging an app store dedicated and integrating his Assistant. Remains to be seen if that will be enough to boost a market that is moribund, which fell 51 % in the third quarter of 2016, according to estimates by the institute IDC.

Among the features key to Android Wear 2.0, we find :

  • mobile payment Android Pay arrives, for models equipped with an NFC chip.
  • Google Fit can measure movements varied (abs, squats, chin-ups) but also the number of repetitions at the gym with weights. No swimming on the other hand, with models that are not always waterproof.
  • The version Wear shop Play lets you install apps directly from the watch.
  • The interface is review and put a lot on the scrolling, which can be done with a wheel, like on the Apple Watch.

According to Google, the update will be rolled out over the next few weeks, including France, about twenty models out for 2015 (full list here). The company took the opportunity to unveil two new watches from LG, the Watch Style and Watch Sports. They will be sold in the United States from the 10th of February and in the coming weeks in eight countries. Unfortunately, as for the Pixel and the virtual reality helmet Daydream View, France is still absent from the roadmap, and Google, with watches that will be available “later” in the Hexagon.

The hardware that seems to be stagnating is probably the most disappointing aspect of the ads. The Watch Sport ($ 349) offers advanced features thanks to its GPS chips and NFC, but it is a monster 14 mm thick. And according to the tests of The Verge and Android Central, the battery has trouble holding a full day. The Watch Style has the opposite problem : it is thinner (11 mm) and has a better battery, but you can not use to pay or do his jog, leaving his smartphone at home. In short, it is still necessary to choose between features, performance and design. From 2014 to 2017, nothing has really changed.

key Words :