Скачать или смотреть Android Wear 2.0 review: Google's second swing at smartwatches

So last year, Google went back to the wearable drawing board to develop Android Wear 2.0, the biggest update to the platform since its launch. Wear 2.0 has a simplified design, new features, and, perhaps most importantly, more ways it can work independently of your phone. It’ll even let you do nearly as much with an iPhone as you can when the watch is paired to an Android device. That, of course, hasn’t stopped companies from trying to sell them to you. If you are wearing a smartwatch, odds are it’s either an Apple Watch or a Samsung Gear. Google’s been in the smartwatch game since 2014, but its Android Wear platform has yet to break out of the niche and into a mainstream audience, even though it’s been offered on countless watch designs over the years. Are you wearing a smartwatch? Not likely. Despite the fact that modern wrist computers have been available for over three years, most people have not found them to be as desirable or necessary as the ubiquitous smartphone. They’ve gone from being "the next big thing" to becoming just another thing, and not a thing most people want. Wear 2.0 is launching first on a pair of new watches from LG that were designed in conjunction with Google: the $349 Watch Sport and the $249 Watch Style. And if you happen to be one of those people who did buy an Android Wear watch before, it’s likely coming to your wrist, too. The Watch Sport and Watch Style are meant to showcase all of the new features found in Wear 2.0, from Android Pay, to LTE connections, to the improved Google Assistant. They are the cutting edge of Google-powered watches, but they won’t be alone for long — you can expect many more Android Wear watches running the platform to arrive this year. The changes here make Google’s smartwatch platform modern and capable enough for those that already know they want to wear a wrist computer. For everyone else, is there enough here between Android Wear 2.0 and LG’s new watches to convince them? The only way to tell is to strap on these new watches, so I did just that. Smartwatches were originally pitched as newfangled computing devices that would free us from looking at our phones so often. But they’ve proven to be best at simple things: tracking fitness, showing notifications, and displaying little bits of information on the watchface, such as the current weather or an upcoming calendar appointment. Android Wear 2.0 is designed specifically to improve upon those simple things. It has better fitness-tracking features, including automatic workout detection, easier access to your notifications, and customizable complications on the watchfaces. It’s a pattern followed across the industry — Apple’s watchOS 3 update from last fall similarly focused on these specific functions. Android Wear 2.0’s support for LTE also builds upon those existing functions. Most often, if you are wearing the watch and don’t have your phone with you, it’s because you’re out for a run and carrying around your smartphone is cumbersome and awkward. Android Wear 2.0 means you don’t have to give up any connectivity to do so, letting you track your run, receive notifications, look up a map, buy something at a store, and send a message or make a phone call all while your phone and wallet are back at home. The Sport is the watch that has all of the hardware to support these new functions. It’s loaded with support for LTE connections, NFC for Android Pay, GPS and a heart rate monitor for run tracking, and a speaker for phone calls. As a consequence of all of this stuff, the Watch Sport is a big watch. Its name should be a dead giveaway: this isn’t the type of watch that pairs nicely with a dress shirt or formal occasion (and it doesn’t fit under a good number of my shirt cuffs). It’s a big, honking timepiece on your wrist that’s thick, chunky, and has a stiff rubber strap that can’t be swapped out. It isn’t particularly comfortable to wear, either, even on my medium-to-large sized wrist. (Big watches don’t necessarily have to be uncomfortable: the absurdly priced Tag Heuer Connected is a big watch that’s remarkably easy to wear. )That large size comes with certain advantages, however, including a big, sharp display (the entire face, bezel included, is roughly equivalent to a 46mm analog watch) and three buttons with a rotatable crown. The fully circular display (no "flat tires" here) has an ambient light sensor for automatic brightness adjustment and can be easily read outdoors. The watch body is encased in stain