Google to loosen restrictions on Android Wear

Android Wear has been quite an interesting release, as manufacturers have shown their own take on the hardware of a smartwatch. What has not been very flexible up until this point though is the software of Android Wear, with manufacturers only loading a handful of watch faces.

It seems that starting with the Asus Zenwatch, hardware makers can begin to customize the software on Android Wear watches. Google’s vice-president of engineering Hiroshi Lockheimer said “It’s not some Google-way-or-the-highway kind of thing”. Google simply wanted to start out slowly to see how well the software will work in this new world of technology.

However, Google is trying to guide manufacturers to not customize the UI so much as add custom applications, similar to the approach they’re taking with their Android One program.

What do you think, should Google not be as strict with it’s software and let manufacturers do it the way they want, or should they keep a tighter hold on it so as to provide the best user experience?

via re/code