Android Wear 2.0 clocks in with smarter smartwatches

NEW YORK--Android Wear hasn't exactly been a wrist-roaring success since its debut in 2014. The pressure is squarely on Google to make good with the Android Wear 2.0 software release that debuts Friday on two new LG smartwatches, especially as it faces completion not just from the Apple Watch, but from Samsung's Gear S3, which relies on a flavor of software called Tizen. The new Android software, which will also be coming to other devices, indeed represents a step forward for such watches--there's support for cellular connectivity, the presence of the Google Assistant, a dedicated Google Play Store, among other enhancements. And you can use the watch more often than before without having to rely on a nearby phone. Still, whether all this moves the clock far enough along in Google's favor is debatable.