Andy Boxall/Digital TrendsIf you want to buy an Android Wear watch, you won’t find one in the Google Store when you pre-order a new Pixel 2 phone, because Google no longer sells them. This doesn’t mean Android Wear is about to disappear, or be dropped by Google. According to Google’s Android Wear expert Hoi Lam, the decision was due to a policy alteration to only sell Google-made products through the store.
The news came from Lam on Twitter, where he continued to say Google is committed to bringing Android Wear products to “more people all over the world than ever before,” through third-party Android Wear stores hosted by other retailers, including Amazon. Now, the Devices section in the Google Play Store hosts only Google phones, laptops, tablets, VR, Google Home, and Google accessories. The app for Android Wear is alive and well in the Play Store, as is Google’s dedicated Android Wear explainer page, and its official Twitter account.
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While it’s clear Android Wear isn’t about to be abandoned by Google, or the many companies now making smartwatches with the software, this does show a lack of concern regarding the platform on Google’s part. Google launched new smartphones, a laptop, and other products during its October launch event, but made no mention of a smartwatch at all, despite coming up with other hardware of more questionable usefulness. Android Wear wasn’t a major part of the Google I/O 2017 developer conference keynote either.
Google has never designed and made a smartwatch, and previously sold watches made by other manufacturers through the Google Play Store. The closest it has come, outside of the original Moto 360, are the LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style, released in April, which were the first to feature Android Wear 2.0. Google would have worked closely with LG to tailor the watches to work with the new software. However, neither watch is a Pixel smartwatch.
Removing Android Wear watches from the Play Store, and not introducing its own to fill the space, indicates Google is content to leave watch design and production to the Fossil group, Movado, Montblanc, Tag Heuer, and many others at this time.
Did you buy a Google Pixel 8a? These are the first 9 things you need to do
Ahead of Google I/O 2024, Google revealed the Google Pixel 8a, and it’s turning out to be one of the best phone values in a while. It boasts a beautiful OLED display that now sports a 120Hz refresh rate, the Tensor G3 chip, Gemini Nano, a larger battery, wireless charging, and a refreshed design with some fun new colors. In short, there's a lot to dig into.
There is definitely a lot to like about the Google Pixel 8a, and as such, we don't blame you if you aren't sure where to start. If you just picked one up, then make sure you do these things first!
Turn on Smooth Display
Android, Wear OS, and Pixel may be Google's household names, but it was Google Gemini, its emerging AI technology, that stole the limelight at Google I/O 2024. The company's annual software celebration sets the stage for everything the company has planned for the coming year, and this year, CEO Sundar Pichai unambiguously declared that Google is in its "Gemini era." From AI searches in your Google Photos to virtual AI assistants that will work alongside you, Google is baking Gemini into absolutely everything, and the implications are enormous. Here's an overview of everything Google announced this year.
Gemini takeover
Users upload more than 6 billion photos to Google Photos every day, so it's little wonder that we could use a hand sifting through them all. Gemini will be added to Google Photos this summer, adding extra search abilities through the Ask Photos function. For instance, ask it "what's my license plate again" and it'll search through your photos to find the most likely answer, saving you from needing to manually look through your photos to find it yourself.
Google is making it easier for you to find and download Android apps
Google announced a wide range of features for Android phones at the I/O 2024 developers conference earlier today. However, the event was not all about user-facing changes. The company also revealed a handful of new tricks for developers to showcase their apps effectively while maintaining a vigilant eye on safety.
Among the most important changes -- one that is also going to make life easier for users - is support for more payment options. The most notable of these is support for installment subscriptions, which has already yielded positive results for developers in the early access phase.
