The popular Moto 360 smartwatch is probably one of the best Android Wear devices available today, but sadly, it’s one of the last devices to receive the highly anticipated update to the latest Android 5.1.1 Lollipop software with lots of bug fixes and new features. now we can officially confirm The update is rolling out late last night.
In the past few weeks or months, Google’s latest update for its wearable OS rolled out to nearly all Android Wear smartwatches, but Motorola has delayed it until now. They cited poor performance and battery issues, but these have been fixed and are expected to reach all owners today or over the weekend.
One of Google’s own employees took to Google+ yesterday to confirm that the update has been officially accepted, it will start affecting a small percentage of smartwatch users today and will continue with a broader rollout over the weekend. Read on for everything you need to know.
Wayne Piekarski, a Google employee, has verified everything on Google+. Noting that the update will launch on June 18, and the gradual rollout will reach more and more Moto 360 owners over the next few days. So if you don’t receive it today, be patient because it will arrive soon.
For Android Wear devices like the Moto 360, Android 5.1.1 Lollipop introduces tons of new features that make wearables much more useful and don’t depend on a nearby connected smartphone to work. This is the biggest and most important change that gives it more power to fight the new Apple Watch.
For full details on the latest Android Wear update from Google. this website with a full changelog. They added new always-on apps that will use WiFi instead of relying only on a smartphone to work. Google has added a new gesture for navigating cards and a much more refined app list and contacts menu. The rotation gestures are pretty smooth, and here’s a video showing them in action.
Android Wear devices running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with WiFi connectivity will instantly learn your home WiFi information from a connected smartphone and will immediately connect to the home WiFi network when the phone’s bluetooth is disconnected. This will keep apps running, receive alerts and updates, and keep the watch working without a phone connected. Basically, Android Wear becomes its own device instead of just a watch when not connected to a phone. This is one of the biggest new features that many owners will enjoy.
Thanks to these apps, it will continue to work even when a phone is not connected, users will be able to continue their conversations via Google Hangouts, search the web with Google Assistant voice actions for weather alerts, and much more on their own.
Android 5.1.1 and the new Android Wear app also allow multiple devices on Android Wear. So if owners have the Moto 360 and the new LG G Watch Urbane, both devices can be used, managed and controlled with Android Wear. Instead of one at a time.
Another big feature is lock screen security on Android Wear. The same pattern unlock on Android has been added to Android Wear, which protects sensitive information on our watches and prevents them from unlocking and working without users’ consent. This was one of our biggest complaints about Android Wear, and it’s another feature we’re happy to see coming. Alert notifications, emojis, watch face changes are easier, and the new launcher are just a few of the many features you can expect to see once the update is complete.
Those who own the Moto 360 can expect the update to arrive today or in the next few days. Users can also go to settings > about > system updates and manually check for updates.
