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Google Confirms First Android Wear 2.0 Smartwatches; New Devices Slated For 2017 Release

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Google has dropped the news on its upcoming two new flagship smartwatches, which is both powered by Android Wear 2.0, through the company's Android Wear product manager. The said announcement confirms its October rumor regarding Google's plan for two smarwatches to be released on early 2017.

Through an exclusive interview with The Verge, Chang revealed the new watches, which is part of an effort to mark the continued business for wearables in the market. Following the report, the new smartwatches will be the first devices to launch with Android Wear 2.0, which is currently in its fourth developer preview.

Chang furthered that the two new watches will carry the brand of the manufacturing company that will work for them, whose name is still unknown. The Android Wear manager said that Google collaborated with the said company to produce the hardware design and software integration for the watches.

Following the launch of the two new devices, existing Android Wear watches will get the update to Android Wear 2.0. Included in the list of present devices that will receive the new update are Moto 360 Gen 2, Moto 360 Sport, LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE, LG Watch Urbane, LG G Watch R, Polar M600, Casio Smart Outdoor Watch, Nixon Mission, Tag Heuer Connected, Fossil Q Wander, Fossil Q Marshal, Fossil Q Founder, Michael Kors Access Bradshaw, Michael Kors Access Dylan, Huawei Watch, Huawei Watch Ladies, Asus ZenWatch 2 and Asus ZenWatch 3.

According to Mac Rumors, the new platform brings a number of new features, including a support for Android Pay and Google's voice-controlled Assistant. Recent news suggests that Google will release the fifth and final developer preview of Android Wear 2.0 in January.

Past reports revealed the two smartwatches' codenames and their improvements. The two smartwatches were previously reported to carry the names, "Angelfish" and "Swordfish," which complements with Google's Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones monickers, "Sailfish" and "Marlin."

At the release of the new Android Wear watches, the consumers will be faced with options for their smartwatches besides the highly-acclaimed Apple Watch, tagged as the best-selling smartwatch following the launch of new Series 2 models in September. Google will also compete with Samsung's smartwatches, which runs its own Tizen software.

The first Android 2.0 smartwatches are expected to be announced at CES in the first week of January. Other product releases will follow at the Baselworld trade show later in 2017.

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