Android Wear nabs new gestures and phone call features

Google today introduced Android Wear 1.4, the latest version of its wearable platform. This one’s not a minor update with bug fixes and patches; indeed, there’s plenty of new and cool stuff to found.

Key among the features is the ability to make and take calls via Bluetooth connectivity. Available for the Huawei Watch and ASUS ZenWatch 2, the capability is coming to more wearables in time.

To take advantage of the calling, the watch must include a speaker.  Those that do will also be able to listen to audio messages from apps such as Glide.

Additionally, Android Wear has baked in some new gestures. For instance, users can expand cards, open the app drawer, or return to the home screen via pushing, lifting, and shaking – respectively.

Last, but not least, Android Wear users can now use voice more actively as part of the experience. It’s now possible to use your voice to send messages from apps like Google Hangouts, Nextplus, Telegram, Viber, WeChat, and WhatsApp.

Android Wear