Wear OS has come a long, long, long and long way to become a usable system. The beginnings of the platform called Android Wear were terrible. Everything worked wrong here – from crashing applications to bugs and short working time on a single charge. However, Wear OS 3 is a big change even compared to its predecessor (Wear OS 2). The American giant, after many years of stagnation, started repairing software for watches. Finally, I can recommend devices with this system, which I have criticized for years for its ugliness, operation and lack of basic functions. What has really changed with Wear OS 3 that makes the system worth paying attention to?
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Wear OS 3 brings a new life to your wrist – for the chosen ones first
Due to the fact that Samsung cooperated with Google on the new version of the system, Korean devices received this update first . It was a kind of exclusive support for the most important partner only. In this way, a few months after its premiere, Wear OS 3 hit the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic.
It has long been said that other smartwatch manufacturers will have to do without the taste and wait. How long? It looks like almost a year – so far, almost none of the non-Samsung smartwatches (except the Montblanc Summit 3) have received an update. It is not expected to happen until the second half of this year. The following are waiting for the patch:
- Fossil Gen 6 Smartwatches,
- Michael Kors Gen 6,
- Razer X Fossil Gen 6,
- Skagen Falster Gen 6,
- TicWatch Pro 3, Pro 3 Ultra and E3.
According to some rumors, the update for these devices may not be released until the end of the year – after the premiere of Galaxy Watch 5 and Pixel Watch. It is also worth emphasizing that not all functions that are available on Samsung smartwatches supported by One UI will be available on competing watches.
Wear OS 3 features that changed the platform to a much better one
The first thing users will notice are the changes to the interface. The metamorphosis is big – not only on Samsung watches. Some time ago, we could see the system menu pictures on the Internet without the One UI overlay. You can see that the platform has gained some color and finally it’s not just ugly anymore. It is all decorated with minimalism and appropriate aesthetics.
It is also worth emphasizing the operation of the system, which in the end does not cut and lag. The previous version often supported by old processors and only 512 MB RAM could make you nervous or dizzy. In Wear OS 3, the interface is smooth and the use of the watch functions is a pleasure. It is worth reminding at this point that the application loading times are up to 30% faster than in Wear OS 2. Moreover, I have never had the application shut down or a strange error popped out (which was the case in the predecessor).
Wear OS 3 also means extended battery life. Two giants made the platform optimized in this regard. It also includes additional options that the user can turn off if not in use – which will allow you to add more minutes on a single charge. If someone doesn’t care about their health options, it’s a good idea to turn off the heart rate monitor all day or sleep tracking.
The new version of the platform has finally introduced the most important Google applications. Here we saw Google Pay, Google Maps and the Google Store. The latter is especially useful – it allows you to easily install an application on the watch. After many months of waiting, the Google Assistant also came to Samsung’s smartwatches. It can be activated in a “twisted way” to function properly. All Google applications are very useful here and make the use of the watch faster and easier for everyday activities, such as issuing commands, paying with the watch or quick navigation preview.
What is the future of Wear OS?
Google has only revealed the secret of the future of Wear OS at the I / O 2022 conference. Between the lines, it could be concluded that the Pixel Watch will feature activity tracking functions known from Fitbit (it is not known whether other watches will also get such a solution).
Certainly, Wear OS will also receive some improvements on the Galaxy Watch 5. In the screenshots evleaks provided us a few days ago, we saw some interesting news. Among other things, there will be:
- Changed interface for selecting text input options,
- Swipe function on the watch keyboard,
- New watch faces,
- Sound balance,
- Possibility to modify the reaction to touch,
- Accessibility for color blindness,
As you can see, these are not breakthrough features, but perhaps both Samsung and Google will surprise us with something.
In the future, I would like Google to improve the assistant and introduce the possibility of issuing commands to start or stop training. It would be nice for the giant to “chase” the Meta developers to create an official Messenger app for Wear OS. Then replying or writing messages in this communicator would be much easier. I also hope that the body temperature measurement function will appear someday – but it must be supported by appropriate hardware. The same is true for longer-lasting cells, which should be larger or more efficient. In terms of software, Google could try to even better optimization and more energy saving options for the user to choose from.
Source: GSM, techradar
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