Android Wear updates reportedly on the way: new gestures, Wi-Fi support and more

With the Pebble 2 and Apple Watch both just around the corner, competition is about to heat up for Android Wear. Thankfully Google isn’t content to hold still, as we continue to see new watches like the HUAWEI Watch and LG Urbane. On the software front, Google has equally ambitious plans.

A new report from The Verge claims Google is getting ready to release a series of updates to the Android Wear platform that will improve the experience significantly. The biggest of these changes will be an update that brings Wi-Fi support. In short, if your watch has built-in Wi-Fi and experiences a loss of your Bluetooth connection, it’ll connect to Wi-Fi instead. This means you’ll still have access to Google Now and any apps that utilize the web.

As for the smaller changes, there will be at least two additional updates. One update will bring a gesture control that lets users flick your wrist to scroll through Google Now cards and notifications, instead of having to swipe the screen. The second update will bring some UI tweaks that will make it easier to access Android Wear applications. It is unclear what that means, though perhaps Google will finally bring us an official app drawer of sorts? Of course, most of us are already using Wear Mini Launcher to get this experience, so this latter change might not affect current users as much, but could be a welcome change for future purchasers.

What do you think of Android Wear, is it evolving quickly enough? Do you feel that Android Wear has the potential to go mainstream, or will it (and perhaps smartwatches in general) remain a niche into the foreseeable future?