Google is said to have a Nexus smart watch in the works which currently goes by the codename of ‘Gem’, ready to rival the Sony Smart Watch 2 and Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy Gear.
A recent report from 9to5google suggests that the company will unveil its first ever smart watch at an event on October 31st, bringing fresh ideas to the “when will Google reveal the Nexus 5 and Android 4.4” rumour mill as well as news on a Google product which has in the past been rumoured but since largely forgotten about.
The Nexus wrist wear will apparently run a slimmed-down version of Android 4.4 KitKat, an OS update which will arrive later this month on the Nexus 5 and shortly after on older Nexus devices. It’s reported that Google Now will feature heavily, with the same card-type notifications you get on Android Jelly Bean phones and tablets popping up on the watch’s small display. This will mean notifications for your calendar appointments, flight departures and delays, weather reports and loads more useful stuff at a glance of your wrist, saving the painful task of having to take your phone out of a pocket or bag.
With Android 4.4 bringing in support for Bluetooth 4.0 LE, the watch will certainly be optimised for this low energy wireless connection type. In theory by pairing a Bluetooth 4.0 phone to the Nexus watch we’ll get a longer battery life on both the watch and the phone, though with Samsung and Sony’s latest wrist-based gadget offerings merely lasting a day each, we’re hoping Google can come up with something much better.
With only two weeks until the rumoured launch date, we’ve got pretty much nothing in terms of tech specs to go on, and no sightings of the design. That’s not uncommon for Google products however, with the Nexus Q being almost a complete surprise when it launched in 2012.
Further to 9to5google’s report, Artem Russakovskii of Android Police notes: “Google will announce a Nexus watch, codenamed Gem, likely together with the KitKat announcement. The date I have, which, once again, is about a month old, is also October 31“, adding further weight to the rumours.
With the Galaxy Gear being reviewed as being too chunky and troublesome in terms of app compatibility, we’re hoping Google’s capitalise on their mistakes and make the best smart watch to date.