Thinking of getting an Android Wear watch? Get your device ready

So, if you're like a couple of the writers here, you maybe have already ordered one of the watches.  But in order to get it working you'll need to have a few things in order.

First, you'll need to get the Android Wear companion app... but to get that you should have the latest Google Play services update... and then updates for Search and Keep (to support some of their new features on the watch).

So how do you get these?

You could probably just wait until it ships to you and everything should be ready to go... but, if you don't like waiting ... Go visit:  http://developer.android.com/preview/google-play-services-wear.html

There you can sign up to be a part of the Specific Google Group, which will then let you click into joining the beta releases of the stated apps.  Click download on each and 'bam' you can have your phone ready to go the moment it gets to your house!



1. Get Whitelisted for the Preview


If you attended Google I/O, your registered Google account is automatically whitelisted for these preview resources. You're done! Head to Step 2.
If you didn't attend Google I/O or want to use a different account, click following link to join the Google Groupand get whitelisted.

2. Download Required Apps


You'll need the following apps to get the most out of Android Wear:
  • Google Play services: Allows your Android Wear device to communicate with your handheld device. This is required to use the Android Wear app and other apps listed below.
  • Android Wear Companion: The app for pairing a handheld to a wearable and providing syncing of notifications and data
  • Google Search: Enables searches from Android Wear
  • Google Keep: Supports the "Take a note" command
  • Google I/O 2014: Supports session feedback from Android Wear
To obtain these apps from Google Play, click each app link above and follow these instructions, preferably from your mobile browser:
  1. Click the Become a Tester button to opt-in to the preview version of the app. The page confirms that you're a tester after clicking.
  2. Click the Download <app name> from the Play Store link to go to Google Play Store download page to get the app. The following screenshot shows how the opt-in process looks like: 



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