Apple Watch vs Wear OS- What’s The Differences?
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With the new wave of the smartphone, and its consistent upgrade, the battle for which is best is still on.
A lot of people argue on which product takes the lead. The rave of the technology between smartwatches have brought the Apple watch and the Android Wear head to head which each other. Fans and a lot of people now have to determine which product leads.
A right way of learning the one that you’d like most, or would suit you most, should be more comfortable if you know the differences and similarities between the Apple watch and the Android Wear.
However, the most important thing is to identify the gaps and ask yourself, what can the android wear offer that the Apple watch can’t offer and vice versa?
Then, you’ll be able to know what you want based on your preferred specifications. This article will be addressing the differences between android wear and apple watch, to help you make a smart choice.
Interface And Design
Android Wear Interface & Design
The attractive Android wear inspired user feature of Google now, is what makes it stand out remarkable. With a card based clean interface which function provides an intelligent characteristic of being the virtual assistant for electronic mobile gadgets like tablets, and phones.
With this small screen which the user could view all notifications and displays, one can say the size is pretty fair.
Although you can see this looks on the Android Wear, G Watch R and the other. Android wear still requires a lot of changes because Android Wear lacks the feature which has and could open multiple app folders, on the home screen. With this, the experience a user gets when using the Android tablet or phone cannot be the same.
This is because the Android possess an essential favorite feature of being capable of opening several tabs and apps apparently at the same time. So this should be an upgrade for the Android Wear for its next update.
Apple Watch Interface & Design
The Apple Watch uses a custom user interface. So with the Apple wear, the user feels the exact experience that they would experience on the phone or pad so.
Unlike the Android wear that could be compared to an operating system, shrink to a small size to fit a small screen, the Apple watch is not just an iOS 8 compressed down; the Apple watch has all of the apps available live on the main home screen.
With this feature, digging around the settings of voice search to find an app like done in the Android wear is not necessary.
With AP watch, there’s a notification bar that drops down along with a Control Center with which a user can view and make use of just by using the fingers to swipe up from the touchscreen.
Battery Life
Battery Life Of The Android Wear
Regarding battery life and lifespan, you can depend on Android Wear and go for it.
However, you would need to charge it regularly and consistently. This charging would take place especially if you’re using the Android watch on a daily basis.
The reason being that no brand or company have been able to produce android wear with Battery life that could last for more than a few couples of days.
With this, you’ll have to charge the smartwatch just like the phone or tablet is being charged, even more.
Most Android phones and tablets have a substantial battery capacity which can last up to a week and could also serve as a power bank.
The charging process for Android wear should be carried out and fully charged every night.
The vice of having the Android wear comes with the fact that most Android Wear smartwatches need a special charging pack. With this, if you were to spend a night outside your home or go anywhere without taking your charger, and peradventure, the battery of your Android Wear smartwatch, runs out, you’ll have a device strapped to your band for fancy as you’ll not be able to make use of it.
Moto 360 is an Android Wear smartwatch that includes a feature of wireless charging. However, with this, you’ll still have to charge the device on a daily night basis, else you’ll have no power life to keep up with your work.
Battery Life Of The Apple Watch
The battery life of the Apple smartwatch is way worse compared to that of the Android Wear smartwatch. The manufacturers, Apple says that its smartwatch is capable of managing eighteen hours between its charges. However, they warn that all of this much depends on the amount of use the user carries out.
If one uses their smartwatch heavily, the heavily the battery runs out and trying to keep charges on would be an absolute struggle for such a user.
The worse factor about the Apple watch comes with the fact that while using the Apple watch, your iPhone or iPad battery gets deeply affected. So you not only have the Battery life of the Apple smartwatch to worry about, but you’ll also have to worry about that of your actual phone.
To charge the Apple smartwatch, you’ll need a special charging cable.
The good thing about its charging process contains the inductive wireless charging feature. However, the battery life is still a mess and requires a more efficient battery life.
The Apps
With the Android wear, There’s A special section available in the Google Play store. With the Android Wear application on your Android phone. To set this up, the first thing you need do should be to install the required apps.
Although, we see immense visible growth in the
Android Wear app store, there’s a variety of first- and third-party collection of apps. These apps include RunKeeper and Duolingo. These apps are however low versions of the original Android smartphone apps, and as such, you’ll not enjoy using them as if you were to be using the unique Android smartphone apps.
Apple Watch Apps
The number of apps available on the Apple Watch was initially around a three thousand mark. Now, there is an immense weekly growth in the number of apps on the Apple watch.
Download these apps from the apple watch on your iPhone. With the Apple watch on your iPhone, you could control the app being displayed on the home screen of your Apple watch, as well.
You can always download these through the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, where you can also control the apps shown on your Apple Watch home screen. Also, there are loads of other famous apps; one can choose. These apps include Instagram and Uber. Sadly some of the apps are either buggy or very slow.
Screen
Android Wear Screens
The screens of Android Wear OS come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
With the fact that not everyone possesses massive hands or the same type of wrists,
The Designers and manufacturers have paid attention to make available sizes for a variety of wrists and hands.
Now every designer tries to cram in more of tech inside, so it feels like designers are probably doing the right thing fitting all of that technology into that size. The Diesel On Full Guard Android wears smartwatch features av chunkier scale.
But they’ve been Android wear smartwatches like the Michael Kors Access Sophie and Huawei watch 2 with options which offer less chunky scalable dimensions.
Apple Watch Screen
The Apple Watch features two screen sizes which a user can pick from: a forty-two millimeter variant with a 1.65 inches screen, a thirty-eight millimeters tall model with a 1.5 inches screen.
The dimensions of the 38mm model screen and the 42mm model screen features a pixel of
272 x 340 pixels and 312 by 390 pixels, respectively.
The screen of Apple Watch blows the mind with its arcuate feature. It does not go short of expectations, and it’s pretty impressive. The retina and brightness have a sharp particular touch interaction that responds quickly to call the menus when necessary. The screen of the Apple watch could describe a highly vibrant face and color.
Controls
Android Wear Controls
The Android Wear smartwatches make use of the same commands used on the Android smartphone. With this, if you’re able to use your Android phone seamlessly, control of the Android wear cannot be a problem for you. Although there are no multi-tab open commands, and no zoom features, you can still interact with your device by tapping and swiping.
Voice commands are available for the Android Wear. With the voice commands, you can navigate around easily. Its gestures are essential to navigation. The same way you talk to your phone and say “Okay Google” and then your phone is ready for your commands, the same way you will talk to your wrists but saying the words, “Okay Google” and your watch would be ready for all your commands and questions.
Controls For Apple Watch
Apple doesn’t invest in voice control designs the way that Android wear does, but it features a similar design like the Siri built-in support. Control with apple watch is more comfortable with new gestures. With apple watch, you can swipe if you would want to navigate or tap any apps to launch it. When you raise your wrist with your Apple watch, you’ll be able to view your notifications.
Apple watch possesses a Glances feature which works to let a user view tons of widgets from the watch apps by swiping the bottom of the screen. Siri aids navigation and enables the quick response of text messages. Force Touch control allows the user to customize the face and home front of the watch. Apple watch possesses a physical button in which one can use to view and interact with contacts.
A significant difference between the Android Wear smartwatches the Apple watch includes a feature known as the ‘Digital Crown.’ Only apple watches use the digital crown feature. The digital crown lets you scroll, zoom, turn or call up Siri, navigate to the home screen. This feature comes handy because, with it, you can view the whole screen while using it.
The Apple Watch is more robust to learn compared to the Android Wear watches. The Android Wear smartwatch is less chaotic, and the Apple watch features a lot of complications.
Features
Features Of The Android Wear
The key features of the Android Wear smartwatch depend on the elements of your phone.
Android wear also works with features of Google Voice Search, and Google Now. The compatibility of Android wear is not outside Android devices, meaning any device Android Wear works with must be an Android device. Android wears like the Samsung Gear Live, and the Moto 360 optimally rely on the Android smartphone for the maximum experience because they efficiently world as companion devices, and nothing more than that.
Working as a companion device means that your Smartphone will still do the Hard Work of finding location, GPS, WiFi connection, Bluetooth connection and display of notifications from text messages, calls and other apps like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, e.t.c. Pp
Google also brought in an upgrade for its smartwatches with which it is capable of GPS support and playing music offline. With all of these features, bringing out your phone all the time isn’t necessary, and it could reduce the chances of theft cases like phone snatching.
Features Of The Apple Watch
If you want to use the Apple Watch, you will need to own an iPhone, bearing in mind that the iPhone is only compatible with iPhone 5S, and upwards. Users of the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5 users are unlucky as the Apple watch does not function on their iPhone version.
The Apple Watch relies on the iPhone to access specific features like GPS and accelerometer. Another element on the Apple watch includes NFC. With NFC, payment through Apple Pays mobile works efficiently.
Apple watch includes a feature known as ‘Taptic Engine.’ The tactic engine works to provide a soft vibration mode for incoming and outgoing notifications.
The tactic engine also comes in handy when using the Apple pay to make purchases.
The Apple watch also possess also has a feature that carries out step-by-step navigation. The navigation primarily works as a map and tells you which direction to go or which way to turn. Although it may not be so reliable, the feature is a great one.
Health, Fitness, And Tracking
Health, Fitness, And Tracking For The Android Wear
Fitness is a vital part of Google with the invention of its Google Fit platforms. When the Android wear launched, it got a lot of attention because of the said feature of enhancing, maintaining, and tracking a health and fitness lifestyle.
Depending on the type of Android Wear smartwatch you purchase, they are all able to take and follow data from fitness apps and putting them into the Google Fit application. All Android Wear smartwatches include pedometers.
Other Android Wear smartwatches are enhanced and upgraded to perform the function of a GPS and a sensor for optical heart rate. An Example of this Android wear is the Sony Smartphone 3, and LG Watch Urbane.
Health, Fitness, And Tracking For The Apple Watch
Apple HealthKit can keep track of the health and fitness of the wearer. Apple made the Apple HealthKit a significant part of the iOS 8. Like expected, there are a variety of fitness/health apps on the Apple Watch.
At the back of the Apple watch, you will see a list of sensors, which works by reading your heart rate, afterward, a vibration sent to the watch as the intensity at which your workout increases, records.
Sadly, you’ll have to rely on your phone’s GPS. However, you will find a ton of fitness and workout apps dedicated to tracking and measuring calories, distance, and duration of your fitness journey.
The Price
When you want to purchase any of the smartwatches, you need to consider the price.
Android Wear smartwatches are less expensive than Apple Watches.
For instance, The Moto 360 sells at a hundred and eighty euros while the Sony Smartwatch 3 sells for about one hundred and forty-eight euros. However, if you go for the stainless steel Android Wear smartwatches, you’ll pay more because they cost more.
For the Apple watch, the least price for the first level Apple Watch Sport is way higher that of the Android wear and the pricing starts from £299 and from there, price max limit, for now, costs £13,500.
Based on the Apple watch edition, apple watches also vary in price. We can agree that a single apple watch depending on the version and cost can buy over ten Android Wear smartwatches.
The Durability
Durability Of The Apple Watch
The durability of the Apple watch is high. For instance, the Apple Watch Series 3 possess a waterproof feature of about fifty meters, and it maintains a scratch-resistant surface. With the waterproof feature, the watch can serve during activities like swimming or any other water sports.
With the scratch resistant feature, the watch would have that new look for an extended period. With these features and specifications, it also combats the daily wear and tear that may occur. Depending on the model of the watch, the real size and weight of the watch varies.
Most watches would weigh between 1 – 1.5 ounces while some have a thickness less than a half-inch thick.
Durability Of Android Wear
Android wears have less durability when compared with that of Apple smartwatches. For instance, the LG Watch Sports Android wear is greatly bulky compared with the Apple smartwatch. The LG Watch Sport weighs more than three ounces with a 0.6 inches thickness.
Also, this watch is with a waterproof feature. The waterproof function only reaches, 1.5 meters. With the waterproof feature time frame lasting for just
30 minutes.
Although the size of the Android Wear is that way to enhance its durability, it makes it less convenient for the wearer with its chunky size. The chunkiness and bulkiness are very uncomfortable for those with smaller wrists.
Future Software
The future software would vary, and they’ll be intense competition between the Android Wear and the Apple watch. These smartwatches both predict a lot of apps and features that will make it easier, comfortable and convenient for all users. From GPS navigations to the ability to open multiple tabs, the hope for the future software is high.
Conclusion
We’ve analyzed the differences between the Android Wear and the Apple watch in sharp details. The significant highlighted difference focuses on the broad cost difference between Android Wear and the Apple watch.
Google’s operating system shows promise of a substantial update, but it needs to sort out their overwhelming issues, debug and update them. Although the Apple Watch is costlier, it suffers similar problems when compared to Android Wear. Thus, the apple watch needs to do better.
However, the design of the Apple Watch looks better than a lot of Android Wear smartwatches. Design matters especially for stylish people. Instead of plain models, it would be gratifying if the designers of Android wears do not overlook the essence of and improve on its design.
Although the Apple watch looks better than the android wear smartwatch, it can’t be called perfect, and with that, the design of the Apple watch still needs to be improved.
One thing is sure they’ll be future software and upgrade as time goes on technology advances. I see a lot of potential for both the Android wear and the Apple watch to succeed.
We can’t entirely judge which smartwatch will or may do better as Apple watches may be doing better now, but the Google Android wear looks like it is ready to conquer the world of smartwatches.
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