Hi Experts,
What is the key difference between Android Wear OS and android for phone ?
Does the underlying kernel also changes for the same ?
Is there any development platform at cheaper price to get started with porting of the Android Wear OS ?
Regards,
techguyz
Can you clarify your question a bit more? Are you looking to develop and application for Android Wear or develop a product that runs Android Wear (e.g. a new watch)?
If you are looking to develop an app for Wear, the design mode and strategies are different but the underlying OS and APIs are not. The least expensive way to start on app development is with Android Studio and the emulator.
If you want to develop a product with the Google PDKs, developing an Android device is open to anyone. The Android Wear PDK is separate and requires a formal agreement with Google in order to access the Android layers above the kernel and Wear specific modules at the kernel level. Google recommends developing a product around an already approved SoC but possible to work with Google on a new SoC for new products.
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for the response.
I am looking for some cheap development boards where I could experiment/alter the underlying kernel in the Android Wear OS.
Especially on hardware integration like UART/USB/SPI on the setup running Android wear OS.
For Android OS I used Beagle Bone Black platform and similarly like "Running Android Wear OS in the Beagle Bone Black".
Techguyz
In my response above, I mentioned that the Android Wear PDK is tightly controlled by Google. You won't be able to run Android Wear on any hardware other than what is released. If you wish to create an Android Wear product, you'll have to engage Google or one of the few partners have have an SoC in the Wear product line. Fortunately, most of the product use one of two SoCs at the moment, one from TI and one from Qualcomm. You could find a dev board with those SoCs in it and use regular Android depending on the specifics of your requirements. You could also use an inexpensive Wear watch and hook in to the existing SPI and USB connection if you don't need to modify the OS. If this question is related to your previous questions about inexpensive development boards, you're probably better off avoiding Android Wear at the moment and using AOSP or another Android supported dev board because the kernels and all modules are more likely to be open source in a form you can actually compile and use for your "experimentation" purposes.
In short, if you'd like to work with Android Wear source or create a product around Android Wear, you'll need to apply to create a product with Google first. If you're only looking to add peripherals or sensors with the USB or SPI busses at an experimental level, stick with regular Android until you have a proof of concept.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
I already made my peripheral working with Android.
May I know which of the TI SoC's are supporting the same ?
Also does it worth to experiment the same with wearables running Android Wear OS in the current market like wear watch ?
Does any of the wear watch contains USB OTG facility to test it ?
The Moto360 watch is one that uses the TI OMAP3.
[INFO] OMAP3630 and OMAP3 - All that you nee… | Moto 360 | XDA Forums
Moto 360 review—Beautiful outside, ugly inside | Ars Technica
I've seen a few articles on fashioning a USB connection to the slightly hidden D+ D- Vcc GND pins for USB and this one makes me believe there is also an ID pin you can attach.
Moto 360 adapter usb cable | How to Root Android
You can probably verify if the watch has USB host drivers installed before you go to the trouble of hooking up the ID pin though. Either that or find a dev board with an OMAP3 if that is the SoC you want to use. I'm at a conference at the moment (you might be here too?) so I don't have an ID pin/OTG USB cable on me but when I get home next week, I could dry one with my Snapdragon based watch. Best of luck in your research,
Matt
Thats great info.
Unfortunately I am not on any conference as of now.
If any of the watch is with ADB facility and ability to root it, then I am fine on buying it.
Now on I am eagerly waiting for your response on the QC's snapdaragon based watch.
It turns out, I've written a blog on using ADB to root an LG G watch to install our gatord driver.
Installing DS-5 Streamline's Gatord on Android Wear (LG G watch)
There are, however, many different Android Wear watches running the same SoC with USB charging ports broken out.
Google Store - Nexus, Chromecast and more
My method should work on all of them. Do a little research on each of them and their SoCs and features and find out which one works best for you.
Cheers,
Does any of the above contains USB host functionality as well ?