Besides updates to the Contacts app, Phone by Google has received a sizable Material 3 Expressive redesign on Wear OS.
Previously, the Phone app’s homepage on Wear OS was a list to access Favorites, Recents, Contacts, Dialpad, and Voicemail. It very much belonged to the early days of Wear OS, if not Android Wear, design.
Old
Now, Phone by Google opens to a Recents feed with each card leveraging Dynamic Color. Two large buttons at the top let you access contacts and the dialer.
The Dialpad benefits from Material 3 Expressive containers and theming, with scrolling down letting you access *, #, and + like before.
This is a much needed modernization. We noticed this change today after updating to Wear OS 7, but it’s also present on Wear OS 6 with version 165 of the Phone by Google app.
New
Meanwhile, the Contacts app has also been updated, with Google mentioning this specific change in the Wear OS 7 changelog for the Pixel Watch.
Next to search is a new ability to add contacts on your wrist. When you tap the magnifying glass, Google now shows keyboard and voice search buttons.
Contact pages have been updated to “further utilize Material3 elements in brand new layouts to display the contact List and Card in a fresh new way.” The contact photo is displayed at the left with buttons to quickly call or message them.
There’s also a “brand new layout for favorite contacts on the contact list.” That grid is available if your device has a larger screen (45 vs. 41mm on the Pixel Watch).
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