"Pssst," you say to your friends, as you gesture them closer. "Check it out. I have an in at Apple." You expose your wrist and proudly display a smartwatch with a universe of tiny round icons all over the face. "I'm not going to say who it is, but his name might start with a 'B' and end in 'ono.'" Then you slide your sleeve back over your watch before they can look too closely.
Yes, you're sporting an impostor, but it's all in good fun. What you actually have is an Android Wear smartwatch running WearFaces, an app that lets you personalize your watch face. More specifically, you've downloaded the PEAR watch face for the app. Designed for either rectangular or round smartwatches, PEAR populates your tiny screen with fake app icons grouped in little circles, just like acertain Apple product that was previewed last week during the iPhone 6 announcement.
You can't get an Apple Watch until 2015, but you can get the look right now. The icons aren't functional, but who cares? You just want to see the look on your Apple-fan friends' faces when they see you sporting the latest Jony Ive design, months before anyone else will get a crack at it.
Android Wear, a modified form of Google's smartphone and tablet operating system that's been tailored for wearables, is already used on three smartwatches: the Samsung Gear Live, the LG G Watch and the Moto 360.
The PEAR watch face was developed by Albrecht Noll (also known as UhrArt), an Android developer and artist. He also created a battery-saving version with a dimmed ambient mode in case you're losing juice too fast with the regular version.
It's worth noting the free WearFaces app with the PEAR watch face will cost you considerably less than the $349 starting price of the Apple Watch, though you'll still have to consider the price tag of the Android Wear watch you need to run it. If you get tired of the look, you can always switch over to theStarwatch app and make your smartwatch look like the computer from "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
