Google has announced Android Wear, its wearable platform, with this beautiful video:
Android Wear is built on top of two existing Android components: Google Now and Notifications. The main interface, which uses Google Now, shows you contextual information, which makes perfect sense for a wearable. And unlike other smart watches, developers don’t have to write special code to be a part of Android Wear, for all notifications are automatically bridged. However, applications can provide a much richer experience by enhancing their notifications with a bigger view, multiple pages, custom actions and take voice input.
How do notifications look on Android Wear? Let’s take a look at the sample apps in the Developer Preview. The first option is to create an emulator, and we have two style choices: square and round.
As you can see, round devices will pose quite a few design challenges. Is it OK if your text gets cut off? What kind of images works well when cropped to a circle? It’s going to be very interesting to see how apps will adapt to this new form factor.
Here is a notification with multiple pages and custom actions:
The reply action is especially elegant. Instead of asking for the user to confirm, it gives you a few seconds to edit your choice, but assumes that you made the right one otherwise. Great interaction design!
Another great feature of Android Wear is voice interactions. Instead of fumbling with the tiny display, you can speak to it. Before you get all excited and go write that “Beam me up, Scotty” app, notice that you can only use voice control with Google Now or in reaction to a notification. So if you are on a remote planet and there is no notification from the mothership, you are kind of stuck. How will a user launch your teleportation app from the wearable? My guess is that Google will publish an API for Google Now so you can show custom cards and add new voice actions.