Navigate your watch with new gestures. Among other features, this version of the OS enables support for the speaker hardware that was previously discovered on the Huawei Watch and the ASUS ZenWatch 2...
Google launched an update to Android Wear today that brings a couple of new features to the smartwatch platform. Certain gestures will allow you to expand a particular card, bring up your apps and return to the watch face.
With this update, it's also easier to messages from apps like Hangouts, Telegram, Viber and WhatsApp with a single voice command.
But that's not all, as Google announces that users will be able to listen to audio and video messages with third-party apps (Glide). The original vision of Android Wear is that it will allow you to leave your phone in your pocket or purse more often since it can take calls, find items on a map, and contact friends.
With Android Wear 1.4.0, users can dip into cards by "pushing" down, which according to Google requires "Hold[ing] your arm in front of you and quickly push[ing] down, [then] bring[ing] it back normally to the original position".
There are times when you'd like to fire off a text message or answer a call, but your hands are just too tied up at the moment. Not all Android Wear watches tout speaker support. You will be able to say, "OK Google, Send a WhatsApp message to Charlene: The Panthers will win the Stanley Cup".
Android Wear, of course, is the Android-based system running on many smartwatches, including Motorola's handsome 360 and ASUS' ZenWatch 2. Since smartwatch OEMs can't customize Android Wear like they can Android on smartphones and tablets (a practice that lengthens and complicates the update process), the Wear update's timing should be within the same general window for all recent Wear watches.
Make calls and listen to messages with speaker support.
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