Android ar companion app hints at volume control other goodies

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 9 Oct 2014

has already announced that it will bring offline music playback G support to Android ar this year. But a teardown of the latest ar companion app by Android lice hints at even more features to come.

For instance, it’s likely that will add remote volume controls when playing music from a paired smartphone. Currently, it’s possible to control music playback on the watch, but users still need to reach for their phones to turn the volume up down.

Android lice also spotted signs of NFC support in the new version of the ay Service. ile no current Android ar watches include NFC, the feature could allow users to pair an NFC-equipped phone with the watch more easily. It could also pave the way for mobile payments through llet, but that’s just speculation.

The teardown turned up more code attributed to incoming calls, voice search notification filtering. It’s too early to tell if any new features might be in store, but greater control over which notifications appear on the smartwatch has been a common feature request among reviewers.

An earlier report by Android lice claimed that the next big firmware update might drop on October 15. If you’re impatient, check out our list of third-party tweaks to make Android ar better—including one for volume controls.

y this matters: th the impending launch of the Apple tch early next year, there are a lot of areas where ’s platform could st to improve. The teardown shows that is working on some of these areas ahead of a slew of new smartwatches from Asus, Sony.