The annual Google I/O developers conference is scheduled to take place May 15-17 of this week so its only natural that rumors and leaked information are starting to mount. The latest Google I/O rumors are circling around the possibility of a Google smartwatch manufactured by Motorola. An article by fan site and leak magnet Android Authority suggests that the Google smartwatch collaboration is indeed real and could make an unexpected appearance at Google I/O.
The smartwatch has supposedly made appearances in Google’s Berlin, Manchester, and Mountain View offices while an uncovered patent for a “smart-watch” owned by Google Inc. add some credibility to the rumors. Android Authority’s alledged anonymous sources indicate that the smartwatch’s user interface would be comparable to the upcoming Google Glass gadget, noting bluntly “Functionality will be very much like Glass.”
Though functionality, convenience, and overall coolness would all be checks in the plus column, we have to take the good with the bad. The bad? Not so much ‘bad’ as much awkward but those same sources say “Still needs tethering. It’s not a standalone device yet. It needs to be tethered to a smartphone.” That means, of course, that a smartwach would be rendered idle and nonfunctional without being somehow connected to a smartphone, likely with an Android OS. The Motorola partnership would make sense seeing as how it has experience making smartphones and is used to doing business with the search engine giant which bought its mobile division a few years back.
With the I/O just days away, its hard to say whether Google will have a smartwatch readily available for showcasing. If it does, the relative lack of attention focused on it and the streamlined hype surrounding Glass would make I/O the perfect venue for a debut. Much like Glass appeared at last year’s I/O in spectacular fashion, a smartwatch could have the same shock and awe effect Google prides devices on. But let’s not get our hopes up because its equally as likely not to be unveiled seeing as how there’s been little-to-no information leaked since.
Lets hear from the Google lovers and haters. What else are you looking forward to at the I/O later this week? Do you think the smartwatch will make an appearance? How do you feel about Google Glass? Give us all you got in the comments section below.
