Report: Android Wear 2.0 to launch February 9

After a delay past the holiday season, it seems Android Wear 2.0 is finally ready for the public. Google itself has started telling developers to prepare for an "early February" launch, and now leaker Evan Blass has chimed in to say Android Wear is coming out on February 9.

Wear 2.0 features a total overhaul of the OS. There's a whole new UI, an on-watch app store, and even a teeny, tiny keyboard you can type on. With 2.0, Android Wear will finally support NFC and Android Pay, but you'll need a watch with NFC. It will also bring the Google Assistant, Google's rebranding of its voice command system, to watches.

Android Wear is hoping to recover from a rough couple of months. The initial developer preview of Wear 2.0, which debuted at Google I/O 2016, got a chilly reception from fans. Google then went back to the drawing board and eventually ended up reverting some of the more controversial changes. After a whopping five developer previews, Wear 2.0 is expected to be pushed out to most 2015 smartwatches.

Mark your calendar: Android Wear 2.0 launches on February 9th.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 17, 2017

Even with the new software, hardware is still a problem. Barely any new Android Wear hardware came out for the holiday season, and it doesn't seem like there is much on the horizon. Google's biggest Android OEM partner, Samsung, has abandoned Android Wear in favor devices with Samsung's Tizen OS. Motorola, the creator of the well-reviewed Moto 360 line, is being dismantled by its owner, Lenovo, and isn't interested in yearly smartwatch updates. The Huawei Watch was another top-tier Android Wear device released in 2015, but Huawei is apparently waiting for better processors before producing new hardware. And speaking of Qualcomm, the company's smartwatch-focused "Snapdragon Wear 2100" launched in February 2016, but we haven't heard a peep about an update.

Despite the industry's indifference toward Android Wear, Google is charging ahead, calling the smartwatch market "a marathon, not a sprint." It recently shored up its development team with the acquisition of Cronologics and is planning to build its own smartwatch hardware. Here's hoping Google's hardware reignites interest in the struggling platform.