Did you know that some companies and products have the same name as other companies and products? Crazy, right? To use a geek-friendly example, there's a brand of laundry detergent called "Linux." Now, Try to follow along with me here: there's a brand of conventional automatic and quartz wristwatches called Android. The American company has been around since 1991. They've never really blown up as a brand, but they've been making reliable watches for two decades. The Android watches have nothing to do with Android, the company founded by Andy Rubin that created Android, the mobile operating system.
Until now, that is. The watch maker has posted a video on their website, Android-USA.com, showing a smartwatch. The video shows it working with most of the features you'd expect from the newfangled product category, including a speakerphone, music remote, voice recorder, and a few other apps. The watch is shown working with a Galaxy S4, just in case we didn't get the message. It will also have multiple watchfaces, a pedometer, a calculator, and a calendar, according to this UI layout. Multiple colors and leather(ish?) wristbands are shown. I can't find any actual evidence that the watch runs on Android code, but it's a safe bet that it does.
The website says that the watch will debut in December, though they don't say if that's a sale target or just when we'll see more information, like a price. The design (and, to be honest, the video) don't inspire much confidence - the plastic build and chunky dimensions aren't anywhere near as alluring as the Galaxy Gear, a device that's not exactly a looker in the first place. Also, I don't see any notifications aside from the phone functionality, and there's no indication of support for third-party apps. It almost seems like some product manager kept getting heckled about an "Android watch," and decided to make one just for the hell of it.
I hope someone at that company is really good at branding - this thing is going to be really hard to Google for in December.
Until now, that is. The watch maker has posted a video on their website, Android-USA.com, showing a smartwatch. The video shows it working with most of the features you'd expect from the newfangled product category, including a speakerphone, music remote, voice recorder, and a few other apps. The watch is shown working with a Galaxy S4, just in case we didn't get the message. It will also have multiple watchfaces, a pedometer, a calculator, and a calendar, according to this UI layout. Multiple colors and leather(ish?) wristbands are shown. I can't find any actual evidence that the watch runs on Android code, but it's a safe bet that it does.
The website says that the watch will debut in December, though they don't say if that's a sale target or just when we'll see more information, like a price. The design (and, to be honest, the video) don't inspire much confidence - the plastic build and chunky dimensions aren't anywhere near as alluring as the Galaxy Gear, a device that's not exactly a looker in the first place. Also, I don't see any notifications aside from the phone functionality, and there's no indication of support for third-party apps. It almost seems like some product manager kept getting heckled about an "Android watch," and decided to make one just for the hell of it.
I hope someone at that company is really good at branding - this thing is going to be really hard to Google for in December.
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