Google's recently rebranded Wear OS smartwatch platform is getting new features that expand the usability of Assistant. The updates should make interactions with Google's intelligent assistant more streamlined for the device users.
Wear OS Smart Suggestions
First up are Smart suggestions, which will soon be integrated into Assistant. When users ask their Wear OS device a question, relevant follow-up questions will automatically appear. For example, when asked about the weather, Assistant might also provide tappable links to show the weather for the next day or the upcoming weekend, or convert the temperature to Celsius.
In short, Smart suggestions offer context-aware responses users can tap with ease, which makes perfect sense for an operating system meant to run on small screens.
Ask Questions, Hear Answers
Google is also adding the ability to play out certain information. For example, users can ask Wear OS to "tell me about my day" and it will do exactly that via the device's built-in speakers — if applicable — or Bluetooth-connected headphones. Previously, My Day information was merely displayed on the watch, not dictated out loud.
Third-Party Actions
Finally, Google has announced that all devices supporting Wear OS will get third-party Actions with Assistant. Actions, for those who don't know, are capabilities of Assistant built by Google, developers, publishers, or other third parties. These prompts help users find a photo within Google Photos, ask for Train information, interact with smart home devices, and do a lot more. Google says there are over one million Actions available.
All the features listed above will start hitting Wear OS devices over the next several days, so keep a close watch. Pun intended.
Google could offer more information on Wear OS during its forthcoming I/O developer conference, but it's hard to say just how much time the company is allotting for the platform during the entire keynote. These updates, however, should keep Wear OS users pretty happy in the meantime.
There's nothing revolutionary among Google's new Wear OS features, that's for sure, but it's still nice to see the company giving the platform some well-deserved attention. Android Wear, as it was once called, has largely failed to make waves in consumer tech, largely because it seems the smartwatch space has dwindled for every company except Apple, whose Watch series continues to be reportedly successful.
Do you think the company will show off more Wear OS features at the I/O developer conference? As always, if you have anything to share, feel free to sound them off in the comments section below!
