How to maximize fitness with Android Wear smartwatches

Google on Thursday announced a software update going out to Android Wear devices in the coming weeks, with the major focus on adding interactivity and more information to watch faces. This will make watch faces much more useful for users and able to display a variety of information they can access with a tap, from calories burned to pending emails. After making a link with a chosen contact, you can share emoji, photos, your current activity – and yes, you can also exchange doodles scribbled onto your watch’s display.

Google (perhaps jokingly) calls these buttons “complications”, referring to the term in horology which refers to any element on a watch face other than the standard time readout. The update also brings Wi-Fi support to the LG G Watch R. Unfortunately, the LG G Watch R was not one of the Android Wear devices to receive this functionality, despite the fact that it possessed all of the necessary hardware.

As a part of this update, Google has launched three different watch faces, all having their own set of specific actions. So, if you’re working out or on the phone, your friend will know. Not only does Runkeeper/Runtastic’s interface provide some basic data metric tracking tools, they can help you follow preset paths, record routes for future records, and more!

When they respond in their own language, flipping the wrist back shows what they said in the user’s language. If you ask me, the bigger deal here is Google Translate, which puts something new on your wrist, something that might make more sense there anyhow: if you’re trying to talk to someone who speaks another language, do you really want to have to fish around in a pocket and whip out a phone? Translate will automatically recognize what languages are being spoken.

This isn’t a huge update to Android Wear, but it looks to be a very welcome one.