The Google I/O unfolded today with the intention to let the world know what the company has planned for the upcoming year. If you missed tuning in to the greatest event of all time, here is a quick recap of everything that transpired there. Among the several interesting announcements made, one of the most interesting announcements was about the Android Wear 2.0. Android Wear has been around for quite some time now. Google launched the next generation Android Wear 2.0 at the I/O conference. This new version of the smart watch operating system will roll out to devices by the end of this year, however, the developer’s version can be downloaded and developers can begin modifications right away.
The next generation Android Wear 2.0 brings in a set of Material Design Guidelines for the User Interface. It has also been enhanced with more functionalities and several new options are being given to the developers. Capabilities for notifications have been added along with mechanisms for better inputs. This new generation of the operating system is also expected to reduce one’s dependence on traditional smart watches or an associated smart phone.
The revamped user interface has quite a few new things to offer. For starters, it adds a complications API, which app developers can use to create small iconic complications that are capable of providing status updates at a glance. This way, the apps can display important data on the screen which can be retrieved from a local data source like the connected smart phone or even the internet. Action Drawers and Navigation Drawers are other new things that have been introduced. Action drawers are contextual possible reactions to whatever is being displayed on the screen, for instance, when one is in the messaging app, composing a new message or a reply, sending an attachment or one’s locations are the options.