Rumours surrounding Google’s smartwatch ambitions and the Pixel Watch have been swirling for years, according to a recent report from Insider. Making the rumours more believable is that several watch faces for the wearable reportedly leaked online last week.
Now, a new leak obtained by 9to5Google suggests that the smartwatch’s upgraded Wear OS will feature a next-gen version of Google Assistant.
9to5Google’s report states that it found a mention of “PIXEL_EXPERIENCE_WATCH” in a recent Google app update, indicating that Google’s rumoured smartwatch will carry the ‘Pixel’ tag. Google also adds similar ‘experience’ codes to its Pixel phones to indicate proprietary Android features.
We already know how much better Pixel devices are when it comes to assistant features. Pixel devices process its user’s speech directly on the device, instead of relying on Google’s servers, which makes the experience of using the assistant much smoother and faster.
9to5Google has discovered references to the assistant functionality in several Google apps connected to ‘Rohan,’ which is rumoured to be Google’s codename for the Pixel Watch.
The latest release of the Wear OS 3 emulator also gives us a look at what the Google Assistant may look like. Check out the image below:
The Blue, Red, Yellow and Green colours, or ‘Google Colours,’ might indicate that the assistant is active and listening. While all next-gen assistant features won’t make their way to WearOS and the Pixel Watch, it will likely make speech processing much quicker.
It’s unclear when we’ll see the upcoming Pixel Watch release, but it will likely appear in May alongside Google I/O or in October when Google reveals its next Pixel smartphone.
Image credit: 9to5Google
Source: 9to5Google
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