It would seems that the day has come for the original Asus ZenWatch to receive the latest Android Wear version of 6.0.1.
The update, which I received over the weekend on my Zen Watch, has certainly has brought improvements to the lagging I experienced under Android 5.1.1. There is also support for speakers, but given that the original ZenWatch (WI500Q) model does not have speakers built in, this doesn’t really help.
On 4 February, Google said that Android Wear version 1.4 (Marshmallow 6.0.1) update would include the following:
- Navigate your watch with new gestures. Scrolling up and down your card stream is as simple as flicking your wrist. Starting today [4 February] you can also expand a card, bring up your apps, or return home to your watch face with a push, lift or shake. You’ll be able to stay connected to what’s important, while keeping your phone (or other hand) in your pocket.
- Send more messages with just your voice. With Android Wear, you’ve always been able to get answers to spoken questions. Now you can also use your voice to send messages from apps like Google Hangouts, Nextplus, Telegram, Viber, WeChat, and WhatsApp. Running late for lunch? Just say “OK Google, Send a WhatsApp message to Nathan: I’ll be right there.”
- Make calls and listen to messages with speaker support. Screening calls from your wrist is a nice convenience that comes with Android Wear. Thanks to speaker support, you can now make and take calls over Bluetooth. And you can listen to audio/video messages with apps like Glide.
The update also coincides with the ZenWatch Manager app also being updated which also brings:
- Compatibility with the new Android Wear 6.0.1 updates
- The ability to add the “ZenWatch accessories” menu option when system language is either in English (US0, English (UK), German, Japanese or traditional Chinese
- Bug fix for the time zone translation issues in Spanish
- Bug six for some reported crashes on Google Play
The update should be rolling out and you can check if you have the latest version by going to Settings > About > Versions to see if you have the latest update ready to download and apply.
Mine updated a couple of weeks ago. No complaints so far. Fast and no lag
Jawbone up app was removed, which pleased me as I don’t like bloatware
I’ve just checked my watch and it looks as though, unbeknownst to me, it has already updated to 6.0.1. (my build number is MEC23S btw).
I would have expected to have received a notification advising that an update was available and asking if I wanted to update my device, but that doesn’t appear to have happened. At the moment I’ve got no reason to be concerned about how my watch is functioning but I don’t like the idea of stealth updates.
@alex what build number did it get?