Enlarge / The Android Wear 2.0 watch face, app drawer, and a notification.
It’s launch day for Android Wear 2.0, Google’s first major smartwatch update in, well, ever. Wear 2.0 is a total overhaul of Google’s smartwatch platform with a whole new design, an on-watch Play Store, a new version of Google Fit, Android Pay, and in general, a move toward being more of a standalone computer rather than a smartwatch slave.
With LG’s help, Google is launching a pair of devices for Wear 2.0, both of which will hit stores February 10th. The $349 LG Watch Sport is the most exciting, with LTE, NFC, GPS, and a heart rate sensor (we have a full review, here). Given that it is packing an LTE modem, the LG Watch Sport is headed for Verizon and AT&T stores in the US, along with the Google Store.
The LG Watch Style is a lot slimmer, but it lacks all the cool features of the Watch Sport (no LTE, NFC, GPS, or heart rate sensor). The Style runs $249 and is headed to the Google Store and Best Buy. Google also notes that both watches “will be available at carriers and retailers across Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, UAE, and UK in the coming weeks.”
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Source: Ars Technica – It’s Android Wear 2.0 launch day—here’s what’s getting updated