Google announced that its Android Wear smartwatches are finally hitting the market. The Android LG smartwatch will be available to order today. Samsung is also getting into the Android Wear market with the Samsung Gear Live which will also be available for order today. The much-coveted Moto 360 smartwatch, however, won’t be available to order until later this summer.
Android Wear was just about everywhere at Google’s I/O developer conference today. Sundar Pichai, Google’s head of Android and Chrome, came on stage wearing an Android Wear smartwatch, as did just about every other presenter at Moscone West. Today, developers interested in building apps for Android Wear will be able to get their hands on Google’s tools as well.
Android Wear is really an extension of the Android operating system, just one for devices you can wear instead of carry. Pichai said the extended family of Android devices that live in the home, in the car or on your arm are designed to be contextually aware and voice enabled. You’ll also be able to control them via your smartphone, transferring various functions between devices (i.e., phone to watch, tablet to TV) at will.
The full Android Wear software developer kit is also available today, Google announced. The SDK will allow developer to build custom user interfaces on Android Wear, control various sensors in the smartwatch, enable voice actions and send data between devices through a new set of application programming interfaces in Google Play Services.
