Report: Google is making Smart-Watch to compete with Samsung & Apple

Like Apple iWatch rumours and Google glasses sightings, it is also rumoured that google is working on its smartwatch.

According to Financial Times, Google is making its own version of a smart watch. What's interesting is that it's not Google's experimental arm X Labs developing the watch but rather Google's Android unit. According to FT, this smart watch would be completely different from Samsung's smart watch (which is also reportedly in development). The smart watch of Google is rumored to be an extension of Android onto the wrist. The wearable computer market is heating up quite very fast. Along with Google's Glass project, a number of smaller OEMs have launched Bluetooth-connected smart watches to work as a companion to the smartphone.

• Fossil has a well-crafted MetaWatch,
• InPulse has the hot-selling Pebble smartwatch, and

there are even a handful of quantified self devices that measure your daily activity. There's the

• Nike FuelBand,
• the Jawbone UP, and
• the Basis to name a few.
• Add to that an Apple competitor in the iWatch, and
• a Samsung smartwatch to boot, and
• it only makes sense that Google has a watch in the works.

Google Glass takes wearable computing a step ahead of the basic wrist watch. However, the rate of adoption will almost certainly be lower than that of a watch or a smartphone since the experience is such a huge change in the way we interact with digital content and our world. A smart watch, on the other hand, would feel a lot more like using a really small smartphone, and that familiarity makes the watch a great bridge between smartphones and computational headsets. There's a patent owned by Google and filed in 2011 for a "smart watch" with a "flip-up display." It would appear that the patent also provides for a touchscreen experience. The question isn't really if Google will build a smart watch. As small OEMs and big competitors around it flood the market with wearable smartwatches, Google will likely need to join the fight. However, it's unclear what exactly that will look like? Does a flip-up display look like a flip phone? From the patent filing, the "flip-up display" seems to work like a digital pocket watch, showing two displays when open and a single display on top when closed. However, just because Google filed this patent, it doesn't mean that Google's Android smartwatch will look anything like it. On the program side, Google has already proven that it can develop for new forms of computing, such as Google Glass. Even some of its already-released apps like Google Now and Field Trip seem like they would fit in swimmingly with a smart watch. Samsung's smartwatch rumors began to heat up earlier this year when alleged screenshots were leaked online of a screen that looked suspiciously watch-like. Following the unveiling of their Galaxy S 4 smartphone, Samsung's mobile vice president told Bloomberg they have been working on their own watch. This patent was discovered last October and described some quickly emerging and common themes. For instance, the Google patent mentions

• a touchscreen,
• GPS,
• voice search and
• the ability to make and place phone calls and read incoming messages.

As a Google watch, expect this imaginary device to be able to search the web and deliver turn-by-turn directions. The 2011 patent also mentions a camera which could be used to "see" the wearer's surroundings. As it stands now, however, each of these three smartwatches could be completely fictional. The companies may have these watches in their labs, but no official word has been given on any of them. There isn't any reports of when the smart watch will launch but with Apple supposedly developing its own smartwatch, the Android and iPhone wars might morph into an Android watch and iWatch battle. Let the games begin.
Read more...