Google won't solely rely on the Android-driven augmented-reality eyewear Google Glass in its effort to expand beyond smartphones and tablets. According to the Financial Times, Google, which provides the Android software and sells Nexus-branded devices, has a smart watch in development, with the company's Android team spearheading the project. Not to be outdone, LG, which is riding on the success of the Optimus G series phones and the Nexus 4 (manufactured for Google), is developing both a smartwatch and another wearable device similar to Google Glass, according to The Korea Times. The news comes just days after Samsung confirmed that it's working on a smart watch and just weeks after reports emerged that Apple is releasing the iWatch later this year. Despite modest success of smartwatch-like devices in the past, it appears that the biggest names in tech now believe that smart watches are the next big thing.
What Else You Need To Know
- Google will be releasing its Glass headpiece this year for a price-tag of $1,000 and could easily incorporate the same features and technology to a smart watch.
- LG's smart watch would reportedly have the ability to sync with the user's smartphone and check messages or other notifications.
- Apple's iWatch reportedly would be able to make calls, check caller ID, relay map coordinates, display notifications from the user's phone on the watch's display, and provide health-related data.
- Samsung Mobile EVP Lee Young Hee confirmed the Korean company's smartwatch plans but did not provide any details; rumors though claim that the device would be part or tied to the popular Galaxy line of phones.
- Pebble Technology, which obtained funding from crowd funding platform Kickstarter, released early this year the Pebble E-Paper Watch, a watch that's able to communicate to a smartphone using Bluetooth.
- Samsung and LG unveiled watch-phones in the past.
Other sources
You may remember last year saw the debute of Glass, and maybe this fabled smartwatch will have have Sergey Brin making yet another dramatic entrance.- Chris Chavez, Phandroid
Whether Google — or any of these companies — will find success with a smart watch remains to be seen.- Dan Seifert, Mobile Syrup
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