Alongside Android 8.1’s release to Pixel and Nexus devices earlier this week, Oreo is today rolling out to Android Wear. Back in October, Google announced a beta program for the LG Watch Sport and now the wearable is one of the first devices to receive the update.
According to a Google developer advocate in the Android Wear community on Google+ (via Android Police), the “Android Oreo roll out to Android Wear is starting today.” However, again, “Timing is determined by each watch’s manufacturer.”
There are no major redesigns with Oreo for the wearable platform, but we did spot a number of useful tweaks. There is a new option to disable touch-to-wake called “Touch lock” in Settings that Google positions as being useful in wet conditions.
Google has added the ability to control the strength of vibrations for incoming notifications. Referred to as the “Vibration pattern,” options include Normal, Long, and Double.
Meanwhile, there is now a toggle to manually enable the “Battery saver,” instead of having to wait until the device hits a low charge. This mode disables Vibration, Location services, Wi-Fi & mobile usage, Data & app updates, and the Always-on display.
Coupled with background limits in Android Oreo, this should aid battery life. Meanwhile, the update includes notification channels for apps that should provide more granular user control.
Google also shared that Wear is now available in seven new countries and languages: Belgium (Dutch), Czech Republic (Czech), El Salvador (Spanish), Honduras (Spanish), Nigeria (English), Paraguay (Spanish), and Portugal (Portuguese).
So far, there is one report of an LG Watch Sport having received the update.
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