Recently, Google announced its Android Wear operating system for smart watches and other wearable electronics. The system is effectively a stripped-down and modified version of the Android OS that is compatible with Android 4.3 and later versions. The OS sidesteps the typical issues encountered when dealing with a small screen by focusing on the Google Now voice interface, which obviates the need for a keyboard or other text-based, on-screen interfaces.

And that is the meat of the Android Wear interface – voice commands that use Google Now’s familiar “Ok Google” to initiate commands to the smart watch. Furthermore, these smart watches are not designed as stand-alone devices. They are meant to be paired with an Android smartphone.

Current Android Wear smart watches include the newly-released LG G and the Samsung Gear 2, though there are a number of different manufacturers expected to come out with an Android Wear smart watch or wearable device, including Motorola (Lenovo), HTC and Fossil.