This clever hack turns an Android Wear device into an Apple Watch

By David Nield Published May 10, 2015

Corbin Davenport already has some impressive smartwatch hacks to his name, but his latest coding effort may well be his best yet: The teenager has managed to get the original Macintosh II software running on Android Wear (specifically the Samsung Gear Live watch).

With such a small screen there’s not a lot of practical use for the port, but it’s fun to see nevertheless — and if you’re on the fence in the ongoing debate between smartwatches powered by Google and Apple, then this gives you the best of both worlds, as well as a geeky party trick to wow your friends with.

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Davenport used the Mini vMac II emulator app to get the hack working. As you can see in the video above, touch input can be used to stand in for the mouse and there’s the option to pull up an on-screen keyboard too. You’re going to need pretty small fingertips and an accurate tapping action if you want to have a go at trying this at home.

The Macintosh II was launched in 1987 and was the first Apple machine to feature a color display and operating system — a basic configuration with a 20MB drive would have set you back $5,200. It’s a sign of how far technology has advanced in the intervening 28 years that the same code can now be run on a small, inexpensive device that fits around your wrist.

Keep your eyes on Corbin Davenport’s Twitter feed if you’re interested in what the coder is going to get up to next. Right now he’s working on an app of his own, but future smartwatch software ports look likely to be on the agenda too.

Former Contributor

Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…

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