Google officially unveiled its plans for Android on wearable devices on Tuesday and both Motorola and LG are jumping right in with their own Android Wear-based watches that will release next quarter. Motorola, for its part, has just announced the Moto 360 smartwatch that will release this coming summer and will feature “a round face and premium materials” and will feel “comfortable and familiar on your wrist.” Meanwhile, Engadget says that LG’s G Watch will release next quarter and will likely be aggressively priced to entice more buyers to pick up their first-ever smartwatches.
Both smartwatches will be based on Android Wear, a new version of Android that Google has tailored specifically to wearable computers. The features listed on Google’s official announcement make it sound like Google wants Android Wear devices to be extensions of Google Now, as its key feature is a voice-activated search feature that fires up when you say the phrase “OK Google.”
” Just say ‘Ok Google’ to ask questions, like how many calories are in an avocado, what time your flight leaves, and the score of the game,” Google writes. “Or say ‘Ok Google’ to get stuff done, like calling a taxi, sending a text, making a restaurant reservation or setting an alarm.”
Google is also unsurprisingly touting Android Wear’s capabilities as a fitness tracker, which is largely what Samsung has been trying to do with its latest Gear Fit smartwatch and what Apple will do when it launches its own iWatch this fall.
A video showing off the design of the Moto 360 follows below. From the looks of things it will be more stylish than any other smartwatch we’ve seen to date.
