14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone diehards probably skipped a beat when reading the title, but it’s a different kind of tile we’re talking about here.
Google has decided to give a new visual facelift to its wearable platform with what the company calls tiles, which are technically new screens that let you access key information at a glance.
Tiles will be specific to certain features on Wear OS, so for example, for the weather tile, you’ll see data like current temperature and the forecast for the next days.
You can add, remove, and browser tiles with just a few taps, and Wear OS will let you jump from one to another with a quick swipe.
“To arrange the Tiles in the order you wish to see them, touch and hold any Tile on your smartwatch, or touch and drag one in your Wear OS by Google app. You’ll be able to stay connected to what’s important to you, and still keep tabs on other information and actions,” Google explains.
Tiles a la Garmin smartwatches
Google will introduce several tiles, namely Goals, Next event, Forecast (weather), Heart rate, Headlines and Timer.
The rollout will kick off next month, Google says, but certain features will vary by phone OS, watch model, and country.
The Mountain View-based search giant says it’s working on adding more tiles to Wear OS in the coming months, but right now, no specifics are available.
These tiles look and feel a lot like those on Garmin devices, which already provide quick looks at some key activities, like your current activity progress throughout the day, the weather forecast, and calendar entries. And just like on Wear OS, Garmin users can further customize their tiles, swipe around to jump from one to another, and add new ones from the companion app on their mobile device.
