Apple gave us “one more thing” at its
product announcement earlier this week, and just as expected, it was a
smartwatch. The Apple Watch unveiling comes a few months after Android Wear
devices started hitting the market, and that might have contributed to the
state of the presentation — the Apple Watch isn’t
done yet. It won’t be on sale until next year, but Apple apparently felt it had
to show us how it was approaching wrist computing, and it’s
much different than Android Wear. Is either approach any better, though?
Notifications
Both Google and Apple agree that smartwatches are not phones
and should not be treated as such. However, they can take over from your phone
in a few important ways. Probably the most common use for watches is as a
notification center for your wrist. Apple Watch and Android Wear are able to
automatically display the notifications that appear on your phone, which saves
you from pulling the phone out of your pocket.
Apple was sure to
point out notifications will be actionable on the watch, meaning you will have
buttons to trigger common actions like replying to a message or confirming
meeting attendance. This works on Android Wear as well, but it’s actually a
built-in aspect of the platform. All the buttons in regular Android
notifications are replicated on Wear. This is one of Google’s big strengths in
the wearable market — developers don’t have to do anything to make their apps
work on Wear at a basic level.
Apple has added
a new category of notifications powered by its so-called Taptic Engine. You’ll
be able to virtually “tap” another Apple Watch user simply by tapping on your
screen. Their watch will then vibrate in the same pattern. You can also send
drawings or your heartbeat between watches. It’s kind of a cute system, though
I’m not sure how useful it’ll be. They call this digital touch — I’m sure no
one will ever send anything inappropriate to your wrist, right?
Search
Google has been
working hard to make Google Now an integral part of the Android experience.
It’s essentially a predictive search platform that delivers information it
thinks you’ll need before you need it. That makes a ton of sense on a
smartwatch due to the shrunken down interface and more limited input options.
Google Now cards are beamed over to the watch automatically with information
like the weather, travel times, and flight information.
Apple doesn’t
have a product like Google Now, but it’s adding a feature to the Apple Watch
that might serve a similar purpose. Glances will be part of the developer kit
for Apple’s wearable, allowing devs to create info cards accessible by swiping
up from the watch face. They can contain many of the same things you’d get from
Google Now, but it’s provided by an app you have installed.
When you’re just
looking for information, Google probably has
you better covered. Android Wear can go into search mode without a single tap
when you say “OK Google.” It also has the advantage of Google’s knowledge graph
and customized search cards. The Apple Watch will rely on Siri, which is still
capable but not deeply integrated with a search engine like Google’s offering.
Fitness and apps
When you’ve got
a smart device on your body all day, it makes sense to track some fitness stats
with it. Google’s solution to this is Google Fit, a platform that developers
can plug into with their own apps – not just on the watch, but on all
your devices. It’s still in preview, but existing Wear devices already use Fit
to track metrics like heart rate and steps.
The Android Wear SDK has been available for a few months at this point, and a number of very interesting experiences have popped up both as standalone apps and additions to existing ones. Google is allowing developers to do a lot with the platform, but Apple will probably be more locked down. The WatchKit tools for developers aren’t out yet, so it’s hard to say exactly what capabilities third-party apps will have, but it will include support for actionable notifications, watch-specific app interfaces, and the aforementioned Glances UI.
