Armani is the latest designer to take a chance on Android Wear
It's hardly the first, and it won't be the last.
Emporio Armani is the latest fashion house to jump onboard the Android Wear bandwagon. The company unveiled its first touchscreen smartwatch collection at Milan Fashion Week recently, with singer Shawn Mendes as the spokesperson for the line. The new series is part of Fossil Group's 300 smartwatch models slated for release this year, and will be available on September 24 through Armani's website, stores and participating retailers.
Like the Fossil Group's other fashion-focused Android Wear smartwatches, the Emporio Armani collection will have its own customizable watch faces to complement the brand's physical aesthetic. Armani will also offer eight interchangeable straps to go with the timepiece. Otherwise, the watch seems like a typical Android Wear 2.0 device, meaning it will track your activity, alert you to your smartphone notifications and let you summon Google Assistant. It uses a Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, which is also common among the latest crop of Android smartwatches, as well as a round AMOLED display.
Emporio Armani doesn't have pricing to share for the touchscreen smartwatches just yet, but given its existing hybrid smartwatches (non-touchscreen) cost between $200 and $375, it's likely the new range will cost more. Whether the watches will be worth the price will depend on how well they're built, and we'll have to wait till they're available to know for sure.
