Google has announced a new version of its smartwatch platform, Android Wear 2.0, which adds automatic activity recognition and tracking to the mix, among other things. This feature is already available with some fitness bands, including those made by Fitbit.
Also, the search giant unveiled a Google Fit data exchange API that will put data from multiple sources in context; for instance, calories consumed in a nutrition app will be able to sync with calories burned in a running app. Again, this is already possible with Apple’s HealthKit platform.
Furthermore, yet not directly related to fitness and health, the new version of Android Wear supports standalone apps, which will be able to run only on the watch, with no need to have a connected smartphone around. This could potentially open-up new opportunities for health app developers which could, say, create watch-only apps for seniors or for patients in hospitals. Or for some other scenario we can’t imagine at the moment.
Now we just have to wait for some sexy, new Android Wear 2.0 devices. Hopefully, this will be a short wait… 😉