Google is talking officially about an upcoming update to Android Wear, an update that will include several interesting improvements to the UI.
Several of the improvements are designed to trim the number of times that using your watch becomes a two-handed operation. You’ll soon be able to move your way through screens by flicking your wrist instead of touching the screen. (That’s good if your hands are full but doesn’t do much for you if you’re holding a cup of coffee in your watch hand.) Similarly, app developers will have the option of making their programs persistent, so they stay open even after the watch sleeps. Currently, Android Wear always opens to a watch face when woken up.
Other new features include faster access to apps and contacts, turning on the WiFi chip that’s already in the seven currently available Android Wear watches, and (echoing perhaps the creepiest feature of the Apple Watch) the ability to transmit hand-drawn emoji.
The update will start rolling out “over the next few weeks.”