With the Apple Watch dominating the wearables market, the offer with Wear OS It still hasn't been able to bring a model to the market that manages to grab the spotlight. Much of the blame lies with Google itself, which has completely abandoned Wear OS by not offering its own hardware with which to take advantage of it. But what if you launched a watch of your own?
The eternal Pixel Watch
Rumors about the Google clock have been going around for a long time, and it was even said that 2019 would be the year of the Google wearable. Considering that we are close to the launch of the Pixel 4Will Google take advantage to launch a wearable that is up to the task?
This question becomes more interesting if we take into account the patent that LetsGoDigital has found. This is a publication made on August 27 in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a registration that is based on a design previously filed in mid-2017, and that defines the product as a watch with a camera.
A watch with a camera?
Some will surely remember the first Galaxy Gear from Samsung. This smart watch had a camera built into the bracelet, and its function was none other than being able to take photos from your wrist. The invention did not come to fruition, since the following generations avoided including it. So what is Google doing integrating a camera now?
Google Pixel Watch with camera https://t.co/pUuBUYO573 pic.twitter.com/COGVZ7iUhu
— LetsGoDigital (@letsgodigitalNL) August 27
The intentions could be very different. A camera integrated in the center of the screen could be used to implement security by facial recognition, something that would be used, for example, when making a payment with the watch. At first, it does not seem particularly comfortable to us, since it would force us to orient the watch to the face as if we were looking at the time, instead of paying and not worrying about the rest. In this regard, Apple's solution with wrist detection seems more practical and faster.
The camera in the center of the screen
Knowing that the dimensions of a smartwatch screen are not particularly generous, including a central element as intrusive as a camera could annoy some users. At first we imagine a needle watchface that perfectly hides the presence of the camera, but the problem arises in the general interface of the system.