Following yesterday's launch of Developer Preview 2 for Android P, Google's now released DP2 for Wear OS.
Android P isn't as big of a change for smartwatches as it is for phones, but there's still plenty to talk about.
The biggest feature found in Wear OS's second preview of Android P is a new enhanced battery saver mode. When this is enabled, a power-sipping watch face will be used, multiple radios will get turned off, as well as the touchscreen and tilt-to-wake gesture. You can view the time by pressing the physical side button and giving this a long-press will turn the mode off.
On the subject of battery, Google's made a couple more changes after getting feedback on Wear OS's first developer preview. There was previously a feature that would turn off Wi-Fi when Bluetooth was enabled, but with DP2, this has been removed. Android P also puts restrictions on what apps can do in the background, and Google's now recommending that developers that need to monitor data in the background (such as health/fitness apps) take advantage of Wear OS's foreground services.
Lastly, Wear OS is also picking up a more powerful Google Assistant that was teased just ahead of I/O. With Developer Preview 2 for Wear OS, the Google Assistant supports Actions, can read aloud responses, and offer smart suggestions that you can tap to easily keep a conversation going.
Assuming you've got a Huawei Watch 2 and are comfortable with flashing download files, you can grab Wear OS's Developer Preview 2 here.
All of Google's big announcements from I/O 2018!
