A closer look at Google’s smartwatches

In the past, Samsung launched a smartwatch that employed Google’s Android Wear software, named Gear Live, which could be acquired from the Google Play store.

This launch was announced during Google’s I/O developer conference in San Francisco where LG’s previously-declared G Watch was also confirmed for availability. Furthermore, Motorola, who was then another collaborator of the Android Wear program, released its Moto 360 smartwatch around the same time.

As shown by Google’s former director of engineering, David Singleton, Android Wear was envisaged to support both square and circular screens and had a design that complemented Android smartphones. The smartwatch’s functionality included voice response, and the display of ‘glanceable notifications’ from varied apps such as music playback, restaurant bookings, and activity tracking.

To proliferate its Android Wear software, Google also launched a comprehensive version of its software development kit (SDK) allowing developers the freedom to engineer applications for devices potentiated by Google’s software.

One of the distinctive traits of Android Wear apps was auto-installation. Developers could engineer Wear versions of their apps that would be automatically installed on users’ smartwatches as soon as the base app was installed on their smartphones.

Research firms had predicted substantial growth in the wearable gadget market back then, with estimates that by 2018, sales of wearable gadgets would reach 112m units. Time has now shown the accuracy of these forecasts.

Back in those times, Google was not the sole player in the wearable tech market. Various other companies such as Sony, startup Pebble, and Apple, were also set to launch their own smartwatch lines, each running on their unique operating software.

Light edits were made in 2025 to improve clarity and relevance.