In this week's Tap That App, we take a hands-on look not just at a single app, but at the latest version of Android Wear and its app ecosystem.

Android Wear is the smartwatch OS from Google, introduced about a year ago as a way to unify how the many different smartwatches that have launched in the last couple of years operate, and of course to make sure Android smartphones are the top choice to pair with.

Getting Started

We tested the latest iteration of Android Wear, version 1.3, with a demo Moto 360 provided by Motorola and a Moto X Pure Edition 2015 running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. To get started, you have to first download the Android Wear smartphone app, turn on your phone's Bluetooth (and leave it on), and startup the smartwatch.

Android Wear will then take you through the pairing process, which is not your typical Bluetooth pairing: it's much more complicated, while also being almost completely hands-off.

The app will pair, then run an update process to make sure your smartwatch has the latest Android Wear OS, and then it will search through your smartphone's apps and sync any (and every) one of them that's Android Wear compatible with the watch.

(Photo : Screenshot / Robert Schoon) The Android Wear smartphone app is a little clunky and a little barebones, but it does the essentials solidly enough.

Depending on your setup, this can take a while.

It seemed to go on forever, but in reality, it's probably likely you'll have to wait for only about 20 minutes, maximum. Once everything is synced, paired, and charged, Android Wear will give you a brief first-run tutorial on how to navigate, update, and add new smartwatch-ready apps.

Too Much to Filter at First

Despite the automatic setup process, or in fact because of it, your first few days with Android Wear will require a lot of culling, blocking, and filtering.

I only had a dozen or so apps (many of them the basic Google ones), but navigating through the app screen took too long, and I was getting too many notifications randomly that I didn't care about.

And some Android Wear-ready apps were baffling. Why would I want breaking news from "The Guardian" app on my wrist, when I can only read the headline and the lead sentence (if it's short enough)?

It's not really Google's fault that independent developers want to jump on a platform without really thinking if it made any sense, but it's another wrist-based example of Google's endemic problems with its app store. There are too many low quality apps, it's hard to find the good ones, and many of the apps already installed duplicate the features of others.

Still, you can block any app directly from the notification that pops up, with just a few swipes to the right, and the smartphone app, while a little barebones, is also an easy option to customize your settings.

Simple, but Smooth Operator

Over the past week, it's become clear that while Android Wear is a work in process, it's got a lot of important things down already.

The touchscreen navigation is easy, the graphics and text are clear and familiar, the health tracking functions are intuitive, and with the Moto 360's single button you can switch to low-power mode. I never found the battery below 50 percent at the end of the day, though having Bluetooth enabled constantly does seem to impact the Moto X's daily lifespan.

For Android Wear, simpler is better. No scroll wheels are needed to zoom in or out. All you need are some swipes and of course "OK Google" voice commands at any time for input.

And the watch face stays on the whole time, so every time you check the time, it's like a real watch.

What's the Point?

However, buying an Android Wear smartwatch is an expensive proposition for the value it adds to your daily life, which is real but certainly not life changing.

For example, I liked that I could pause, play, and otherwise control the music or podcasts on the smartphone from my wrist. It felt safer while driving to tap the watch while holding the wheel and looking up. The same goes for turn by turn Google Maps directions.

I liked that I could see incoming texts and calls without needing to reach into my pocket. I liked the health tracking, which was simple and automatic. And Google Now's reminders and notifications really find their true potential when you don't have to check your phone.

But is that worth several hundred dollars?

Of course, your mileage may vary, and with Google constantly adding more apps and refining Android Wear's interface, some will undoubtedly find a setup that they love. Others may find it worthwhile for the fashion aspect as well.

Android Wear and the concept of smartwatches in general are still in the early-adopter phase. That phase will probably continue until prices go down a little more, hardware refinements make them less physically clunky, and, especially, until Google Now evolves into the next generation intelligent AI assistant.

But that will probably happen. And when all the information you need is there on your wrist exactly when you need it, that's when the smartwatch will feel essential.