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Wear OS by Google Redesigned With New Notification Stream, Android Pie Like Quick Settings, Fresh Assistant Interface

Wear OS by Google Redesigned With New Notification Stream, Android Pie-Like Quick Settings, Fresh Assistant Interface

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 30 August 2018 13:16 IST

New Wear OS update will start rolling out next month

Highlights

New Wear OS update brings an improved notification stream
Swiping down will open up the Quick Settings
Swiping right will open the Google Assistant page

Google has now rolled out an update to Wear OS bringing a completely new design, inspired by Android Pie. The Wear OS by Google update has overhauled how notifications look, how the quick settings interface looks, and brings improved Google Assistant support. This comes right after the Google Fit interface was changed to look more like Apple Watch's activity goals. The Wear OS software was initially neglected by Google, and didn't receive regular updates to keep consumers and manufacturers enticed. However, this update brings a lot of nifty improvements making the software an attractive offering once again.

First up, Wear OS notifications are now seen in a stream format, and they open with a simple swipe up. The new notification stream shows notifications from different apps, and differentiates them with colour-tinges for more ease. For example, Hangouts gets a red tinge, while Android Messages notifs have a blue tinge. It also brings along built-in smart reply to enable conversation without leaving the notification stream. These notifications also show the time at which you received it.

Swiping down brings out the Wear OS Quick Settings menu, and it has options like Airport Mode, Find My Phone, battery percentage, Google Pay, and more. To see more settings, there is a dedicated settings button right on top, and the interface looks very similar to the one seen on Android Pie Quick Settings.

To bring up Google Assistant on Wear OS, users need to swipe right, and it pulls up the weather, a time-related greeting, and the mic shortcut to launch the voice search option. Furthermore, the interface shows you the commute time to work, flight status, your schedule for the day, your next event, etc. You can press on each of these to see more information.

Finally, swiping left in the new Wear OS version brings up the new redesigned Google Fit app, with its new features called Move Minutes and Heart Points. The former is designed to highlight your physical activity, the other one allows you to detail what activities are impacting your heart. The updated Google Fit uses sensors on your smartphone or smartwatch, such as the accelerometer and GPS, to detect your moves automatically and estimate the number of Heart Points you earn.

Google says that the new Wear OS features will begin rolling out next month (which isn't far), and some features may vary by phone OS, watch, or country.

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