Hi, this is KATABUCHI (@hotchemi) at the Smart Device Group. I usually work on library development of Android in my company and infrastructure development. This time I joined the Android Wear case study held in our building.
You can read the detailed report about the case study in the blogs below.
In the case study, people gave their private development talks and I did, too. I will share the document as below.
Possibilities of Android Wear held at Google I/O
In Google I/O 2014, big improvements of Android Wear SDK were announced. For example, in addition to the features of notification confirmation and response supported only in the Preview version before, the applications operated on Wear (Wearable app) and unofficially a feature which customizes a home screen called watchface. These changes enable developers to do more things at once.
I think that it will have lots of possibilities in scaling out as an eco-system because you can make applications easily if you have basic knowledge about Android development except for certain exceptions at the implementation point of view.
In the Google I/O session, it was also announced that Google Glass would support Android Wear. Therefore, after the support, Google Glass will be dealt as a part of the Android Wear brand, and it will be a strong platform that supports Google wearable strategies in addition to a wearable watch.
Design in wearable times
Although I wrote that the implementation would be easy, only understanding implementation layers is not enough to deliver the most appropriate applications to users.
What we must pay attention most to is design as it was often said in the case study. While the design of the user interface has established already to some extent in PCs and mobile/smart phones, the UX design of the wearable (a watch, this time) application has been still largely unexplored. You need to read through Google’s official documents for these, and you have to understand user’s context and use case.
Hardware design in addition to just software one is also very important. As you notice that people who have a watch on everyday wear the watch as a part of fashion, it is essential for wearable devices to have an excellent design. We will need to keep our eyes on Moto360 which will be brought out this summer and on the movement of watch makers and fashion brands.
Finally
While services for supporting Android Wear such as allthecooks, eat24, and Fancy grab people’s attention overseas, it is not still hot enough in Japan because the penetration of Android devices is low. In Recruit Technologies we will share the knowledge about the know-how wearable devices including Android Wear.