Fossil Wear OS watch gets leaked ahead of official launch

Fossil is set to unveil a new a Wear OS watch on August 5, Monday, and the company teased it on Twitter with a video clip that has Google Assistant’s voice saying the words “Coming Soon.” The implication is the new smartwatch will feature a speaker. And shortly after the teaser was released, a Reddit user showed off some hands-on images of the watch being called the Gen 5 version. The watch has also been seen on Fossil’s official Australian site. The specs include a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, 8GB of storage, a speaker, and “smart battery modes” that promise to extend battery life for “multiple” days. It also features waterproofing, an upgraded heart rate sensor, and sleep tracking. The site didn’t mention anything about pricing, though. But we hope to get more details in a few hours.

Source: 9to5Google

Google Assistant can now read and reply to your messages on third-party apps

Google has always been able to read text messages sent through the native Messages app or Hangouts. But it wasn’t able to read messages from other messaging services wasn’t an option. Until now, that is. According to Android Police, Assistant will now read messages from apps like Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, GroupMe, Discord, and the like, as well as reply to these messages. To try this out, say “Read my messages” to Assistant. You will need to allow the Google app to access your notifications for this to work.

Once that’s done, a card will pop up with the last text message or messages you’ve received and then it’ll read these out loud. Assistant will say which app it’s from and the name of the sender. You will then be asked if you want to type or dictate a reply. When Assistant has sent your reply, the original message will be marked as read and the notification will go away. However, it won’t read messages containing things like audio notes, pictures, or videos. Assistant will just say things like: “the message just contains an audio attachment.” And then it won’t play this back. You can try this out the next time you get notifications to see if the feature made its way to you.

Source: Android Police

Canadian Reviewer Weekly Roundup – 7/28 – 8/3

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Google Play Pass is a paid subscription service that gets rid of the ads

Google Play Pass is a paid subscription service that gets rid of the ads

Leaked screenshots of a new subscription service Google is planning to launch just surfaced online. Called Play Pass, it would let you play games without being interrupted by ads. It promises a massive library of games and even “premium music apps and everything in between” with all in-app purchases unlocked. Google will offer a free 10-day trial and then would charge US$4.99 per month after that. We doubt Spotify will be part of the catalog, but we might expect some of the bigger games to be included. The screenshot shows games like Stardew Valley and Marvel Pinball. This also seems to be Google’s answer to Apple Arcade. According to Android Police, Google says this service is currently being tested.