Preproduction LG Smartwatch Gives Us an Early Glimpse at Android Wear

Ever since its initial unveiling back in March, we’ve talked quite a bit about Android Wear. Just a couple days after its launch, we covered the Android Wear emulator, apps that can run on the emulator, and a system dump to extract some of the Wear’s software goodies. Then about a week ago, we talked about how to easily add rich Android Wear notifications to new and existing apps, and earlier today, we took a look at some examples of Wear notifications done well. With all of this, it’s safe to say that even though some questions remain, we have a pretty good idea of what Android Wear’s software will be like.

Despite the relatively clear picture that we already have of what Wear will be like from a software standpoint, we haven’t seen much in the way of Wear hardware. Yes, there have been product announcements such as the Moto 360 and other Wear-powered offerings, and we’ve also seen dozens upon dozens of UI renders, but we haven’t seen real hardware running Wear just yet. But now, thanks to the guys over at Appdated, we have an in-depth look at an early LG prototype smartwatch running Wear.

As seen in the video, device management tasks can be executed from a swipeable interface, and swiping from left to right while in the task list takes you to the watch face display. And when viewing the device clock, swiping down brings up the date and your remaining battery level. On a hardware front, we have a thick and primarily plastic-based device that features a relatively high resolution display and a five-pin charging (and perhaps data?) pad.

It’s important to keep in mind that this is still an early preproduction model, and both hardware and software may change significantly before release. However, it’s still nice to see Wear getting closer and closer to reality. Are you going to jump on the Wear bandwagon upon release, or would you rather partake in another smartwatch platform? Let us know in the comments below!

[Source: AppDated (YouTube) | Via AndroidandMe]

source: xdadevelopers