Google Announces ‘Android Wear’ SDK, Launches Developer Preview

Today, Google I/O kicked off, and Sundar Pichai had a lot to share alongside his team. Among other interesting stuff, such as taking on Apple TV with Google TV and challenging CarPlay with AndroidAuto, Google announced the launch of full SDK for Android Wear (via TechCrunch).

What this means is that developers will be able to create their own custom UI, extend their existing Android apps, and create a wearable experience. By using the Android Wear Developer Preview, developers can preview how the apps will appear on square and round Android wearable devices.

Since the app’s notifications will appear on Android wearables, developers can customize and extend those notification using the new Android Wear APIs: add actions to notifications, add notification pages, or stack multiple notifications.

During the forthcoming months, Google will launch new APIs and features for Android wearables, opening up all sensors to developers and allowing them to gather data and display it in real time on Android wearables. In addition, Google encourages developers to register their app to handle voice actions, such as “Ok Google, take a note.”

Furthermore, the Android Wear SDK will enable developers the ability to send data and actions between a phone and a wearable with data replication APIs and RPCs.