Tech

Affordable Android Wear 2.0 Smartwatches From Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss Announced: OS’ Biggest Problems

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Consumers are about to get smartwatches from top apparel brands, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss. Both brands are under American watchmaker, Movado, which recently announced a partnership with Google for a new smartwatch collection.

The Movado Connect smartwatch collection will be launched at this year's Baselworld watch and jewelry show in Switzerland on Thursday, March 23. The smartwatches will be released to the public this fall and will include five models catering to men.

The smartwatches for men will retail in the United States, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and Canada for the starting price of $495. The collection will be powered by Google's Android Wear 2.0 and will come with five customizable dials that borrow Movado's iconic Museum dial design.

Each of the dials powers three to four customizable elements such as backgrounds and watch hands. The smartwatches are compatible with Android Pay, which will delight users seeing as not all Android Wear watches (e.g. the LG Watch Style) are compatible with the payment service.

This isn't the first time that high-end designer brands partnered with Google to launch Android Wear-powered smartwatches. Fossil, Nixon, Michael Kors, Casio, New Balance and TAG Heuer have already entered the fold.

Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss' smartwatches aren't that pricey compared to others, though. Some wearable devices double or more than triple Movado's smartwatches, including the Breitling Exospace B55 (costs for $8,900), the Apple Watch ($12,000), the TAG Heuer Connected ($1,500), the Kairos hybrid watch ($2,549) and the Frederique Constant smartwatch ($1,295), ZDNet listed.

Android Wear 2.0 took almost a whole year to be released after its announcement in May 2016. The operating system offers a darker and more mature interface, Google Assistant, an on-screen keyboard, a Native Google Play Store, fitness challenges, rotational input support and a Complications API so owners can choose which data they want to display. Android Wear 2.0 also allows users to better manage their notifications and reply quickly to messages.

Complaints still abound despite Google's efforts to improve the appearance of Android Wear 2.0. Some users still don't like how notifications are shown, describing the alerts as "unbundled" due to how each notification are displayed individually, according to Extreme Tech.

Users also criticized how Google altered the Do Not Disturb mode on the smartwatch and the phone it was connected to. Prior to Android Wear 2.0, activating the DND mode on one device automatically affects the other. Now, only one device will be set to DND mode, meaning users will have to take extra time and effort to activate the feature on both devices.

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