Google announces MODE bands for Android Wear

By far the best feature of the Apple Watch is the range of bands available for it, and the beautifully simple mechanism for attaching and removing them. Most Android Wear watches have nothing of the sort, with some not even offering the option to change bands.

Google wanted to do something about this, so the company has announced something called MODE bands. These are snap-and-swap watch bands that come in a variety of colors in leather and silicone. The main feature here is the attachment mechanism, which, like the Apple Watch, comes off with just the flick of a switch.

Considering the range of Android Wear watches available, Google knows you can't just make one design and expect them to work with all. So it has created a vendor playbook with instructions, requirements and brand guidelines. Other companies will have to use this to make their own MODE bands. It honestly doesn't sound particularly viable, and brings this xkcd comic to mind. We will have to wait and see how well brands adopt this.

Source