Chapter 11. More About Wear 2.0
Android Wear 2.0 is a prominent update with plenty of new features bundled in, including Google Assistant, standalone applications, new watch faces, and support for third-party complications. In previous chapters, we explored how to write different kinds of Wear applications. Wear 2.0 offers more with the current market research and Google is working with partner companies to build a powerful ecosystem for Wear.
In this chapter, let's understand how we can take our existing skills forward with the following concepts:
- Standalone applications
- Curved layouts and more UI components
- Complications API
- Different navigations and actions
- Wrist gestures
- Input method framework
- Distributing Wear apps to the Play store
In Wear 2.0, standalone are feature of the wear ecosystem. How cool it will be using wear apps without your phone nearby! There are various scenarios in which Wear devices used to be phone dependent, for example, to receive new e-mail notifications, Wear needed to be connected to the phone for Internet services. Now, wear devices can independently connect to Wi-Fi and can sync all apps for new updates. The user can now complete more tasks with wear apps without a phone paired to it.
Identifying an app as a standalone
The idea of a standalone application is a great feature of the wear platform. Wear 2.0 differentiates the standalone app through a metadata element in the Android manifest file.
Inside the tag <application>, the </application> metadata element is placed with com.google.android.wearable.standalone with the value true or false. The new metadata element indicates whether the wear app is a standalone app and doesn't require the phone to be paired...
In this chapter, we have understood standalone applications and the Complications API. We have seen how to detect companion apps using Capability API, and we have a clear idea of standalone applications and publishing a wear app too.
This chapter examined how we can reinforce the comprehension of wear 2.0 and its components, along with an exhaustive understanding of standalone apps, curved layouts and more UI components, and building Wear applications with navigation drawers and action drawers. It also offered a brief understanding of wrist gestures and using them in wear applications, using the input method framework, and distributing the wear application to the Google Play Store.
