A Google Now smartwatch may be in the works, Bloomberg reveals, but surprisingly, Google isn’t developing it. The publication has learned that the Google Now smartwatch is one of the three wearable concepts HTC is working on, with one of them to be privately shown to carriers at MWC 2014. However, these products won’t be available on display to regular visitors of the popular Barcelona trade show.
In addition to the Google Now smartwatch, which could appeal to Android device users who already rely on Google’s search-based advanced assistant, HTC is apparently also working on a smartwatch based on the Qualcomm Toq and on a smart bracelet that can be used to play music and track fitness-related activities. However, just the Toq-like device will be shown to carriers.
HTC’s unnamed Toq version will pack a Qualcomm Mirasol display, Bluetooth connectivity and offer music playing features, Bloomberg says. However, the Google Now smartwatch may be the more interesting model, which would feature an AMOLED display. It’s unclear though whether any of the three wearable devices the company has been working on will go to mass production.
HTC has previously confirmed that it plans to get into the growing wearables business, claiming that it has worked for “many years” on such devices. “Many years ago we started looking at smartwatches and wearables, but we believed that we really have to solve the battery problems and the LCD light problems,” HTC Chairman Cher Wang told Bloomberg in an interview earlier this month. “These are customer-centric problems.”
