This is the 4th and last post of my smartwatch app testing series. However, there will be one more post with lots of testing ideas coming next week, so stay tuned for that. In this post I will write about Android Wear and the important features to know about this platform. Android Wear, as the name already suggest is based on Android and is developed by Google. The platform was launched at the Google I/O 2014.
Android Wear is written in C, C++ and Java and is open source like Android. The latest version based on Android 5.1.1 aka Lollipop (Version 6.0.1 aka Marshmallow is currently in roll-out stage). Since Android Wear is open source many manufacturers already produced their own Wear based watches. Some of you might think, yet another fragmentation challenge is coming up, but this is not the case for Android Wear. Google build this platform in a way that the UI is not customizable like Android for smartphones. The main goal is to get a common look and feel as well as features on different watches, produced by various manufacturers. This is a great step for all people working with wearable apps based on Android Wear, because it downsizes the amount of work.