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Wear OS Radio Flutter

The world’s first deployment of an idea based on network radio where we provide independent radio stations for a smartwatch running Wear OS.

The problem Wear OS Radio Flutter solves

To set an example of hybrid mobile development on a platform, as small as a smartwatch.
Our main objective for this tech deployment is to create a customizable and accessible standalone internet radio access for all Wear OS users, making it independent of a 2nd party device like an Android Phone.
To display the flexibility & expanded features of using hybrid application development platforms such as Flutter SDK on platforms such as Android Auto, Wear OS, etc.

Challenges we ran into

  • Compatibility issues with wear OS as all manufacturers provide different specifications os making it compatible with almost every Wear OS was a challenge.
  • FM Radio using the internet was an issue in Wear OS.
  • While Flutter isn’t optimized for Wear devices, experimenting on Wear is possible. Flutter’s widget pattern provides an elegant means of handling Wear-specific functionality that lends itself to writing simple, understandable code.
  • Writing Wear apps require developers to pay attention to the watch's specifics: does it have a square or a round watch face, and what are its dimensions; what should the app display when the watch enters ambient mode? How can Flutter access the Wear APIs, and what patterns can be used to expose said functionality in an elegant, Flutter-like way? For long-running Wear apps, supporting ambient mode is critical. Natively holding a wake lock keeps the screen at full brightness and kills battery life.

Technologies used

Discussion