There’s been talk of a Google Nexus branded smartwatch for some time now, with this year’s Google I/O developer event said to be the launch pad for the new wearable gadget. We’ve not yet seen the device itself, although new images revealed by Android Police could give the game away.
The watch pictured clearly bears the Motorola logo on the face, and the website acknowledges that the watch is an early prototype built by Motorola, back when it was owned by Google. However, with Google keeping many of Motorola’s prototypes, there is a chance that this device will be the basis of the final design we expect to see at I/O in May.
According to Android Police’s source, the watch was created in 2013 and was going to be launched as the Google Gem – a name we’ve heard previously. Motorola tweeted its plans to launch a smartphone this year just yesterday, claiming it will address ‘issues’ such as battery life and style, so we could still see this watch, just not under the Google name.
From the pictures we can tell that the device clearly runs a version of Android from the settings screen shown, and that an array of buttons surrounds the face. There’s a rocker button above the display, a back button below the display and another button on the left side of the body. Interestingly, there’s also a flip-out USB connector hidden within the clasp of the strap, so it doesn’t look likely that this watch would accommodate any old watch strap, as the new Samsung Gear 2 does.
The rocker buttons above the display aren’t for volume adjustment as we first thought, with some close-up zooming revealing a running man icon on the left button and a microphone logo on the right. These are likely to link with fitness and voice control features which appear on the watch interface itself, but we know nothing more about their purpose.
Recent whispers have suggested that Google will be sticking with Nexus 4 and 5 maker LG for the hardware side of its first smartwatch. Whether any of the Motorola design, which undoubtedly had some input from Google at the time, will feature in Google’s final product remains to be seen. The watch shown could well have been scrapped, or Motorola could have kept the work with the intention of launching it later this year. Hopefully we’ll find out either way soon as the market for wearable gadgets hots up considerably.