This is the first update of many to come in 2015

Oct 25, 2014 07:15 GMT  ·  By

When Google introduced Android Wear a few months back, it made a point of highlighting that the OS was designed with notifications in mind.

Most Android Wear smartwatches today have to be paired with a companion smartphone to actually be of any use at all. But the tide is changing fast.

Google has just rolled out the first big update for Android Wear, adding some new functionalities that seem to hint that the search giant wants to make your smartwatch more of an independent device.

In what follows we’ll point out the most important changes you should expect from the new update.

Music lovers are going to be happy

Samsung has already launched the Gear S smartwatch, which can basically be utilized without a smartphone companion. Now, Google is taking the preliminary steps to making its intelligent timepieces more independent.

The new Android Wear update allows watches to pair with Bluetooth headsets and play music downloaded directly from the Google Play Music app.

What should be highlighted here is that the watches can do this without necessitating a connection to the Internet, or in other words, without being connected to a smartphone.

Besides offering offline music playback capabilities, the new update gives users the chance to save music directly on their watch (most watches have 4GB of internal storage, which might prove to be quite insufficient).

Android Wear now supports watches with built-in GPS sensors

Google has also updated the GPS feat on the watches. So when you go out for your morning run, you can connect your watch to a Bluetooth headset and listen to music the entire time you are working out.

On top of that, you can now upload the needed apps on your watch and go out the door without having to take the smartphone with you as well.

Tons of new apps arrive in the Google Store

The Android Wear app ecosystem is growing at a fast rate, and Google itself has claimed that there are now “tens of thousands of apps” waiting to be downloaded from Google Play as we speak.

To make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for, the company has created 8 categories, including News/Featured, Communication, Health and Fitness, Productivity, Social, Travel and Local, Tools, Misc (More apps).

It’s also worth mentioning here that you can now swipe down on the top notification card to hide it, as opposed to having to dismiss all your cards in order to get to the watch face.

When does the new update arrive?

Google is rolling out the new update over-the-air (OTA) in the next few days. When the new build becomes available, it should automatically download and install. After that, the watch will restart to update itself.