With the recent focus on digital assistants for every platform, from Smart TVs to Smartwatches, Google’s Wear OS platform kind of stood out as one of the final major ones without one. The introduction of Siri on the Apple Watch in the fall of last year put Wear OS further in the spotlight for its glaring omission, but not anymore.
After being announced last week, Wear OS users are already reporting receiving updates that enable Google Assistant on their watches. It is not clear which Wear OS models are going to ultimately receive it, though, users of Wear OS 2.0 and above can expect to be first in line.
What it Does
Google Assistant can carry out a number of tasks you’d normally expect to do yourself. These include carrying out actions like setting alarms or sending messages, smart responses, and audio replies (if your watch comes with a speaker).
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Smart suggestions are also something which we’ve already seen from digital assistants in the past. When you put in a query to your assistant (like asking the weather) the assistant gives further suggestions after answering the query, which might eventually be of use to you (like weather updates for tomorrow or later this week).
Lukewarm Reception
While we haven’t tried the features for ourselves, users online have mixed opinions when it comes to these features. While some are elated at the prospect of the Assistant finally arriving on wearable devices, some users are also reporting bugs and performance issues while using it.
The update is rolling out to users across the globe, rather than just the US, which means that if you have a Wear OS-running device, chances are you’ll get it soon, too.
