Wear OS finally reached its potential in 2024
Put on OS Weekly
My new weekly column focuses on the state of Put on OS, from new developments and updates to the newest apps and options we wish to spotlight.
Three years after Samsung and Google introduced their Put on OS partnership to rescue Android smartwatches from mediocrity, I am completely happy to state the plain: the gambit paid off, and Put on OS in 2024 is stronger than ever.
As a newcomer to Android watches, I wasn’t round for this pre-2021 bleak period of Put on OS watches. Once I seemed again at editorials from senior Android Central editors, I noticed years of complaints about sluggish efficiency, mediocre health options, a stagnant app ecosystem for builders, and a basic feeling that Google had no thought what it was doing and that Tizen, Fitbit, and Garmin provided one of the best Android watches.
No one thinks that now. It is not that the Galaxy and Pixel watches are excellent, however they’ve develop into way more versatile, providing greater than notifications and Google Assistant. You have got extra confidence that any watch you purchase could have years of assist, and you’ll see how Android OEMs like OnePlus see the potential of Put on OS and suppose it is right here to remain (in contrast to different Killed- by-Google).
Wanting on the path of Put on OS watches in 2024, I am optimistic that one of the best years of the Android wearable ecosystem are forward.
January 2024: Fossil offers up
I am beginning with the low level of the 12 months, in my thoughts: Fossil determined to cease making smartwatches in 2024, as Put on OS 3 and three.5 updates took a few 12 months longer than Google and Samsung’s.
Along with Mobvoi TicWatches’ cussed stance, prospects earlier than Google’s Put on OS 3 have quietly deserted the model, both unable to compete on software program or not seeing the benefit with Samsung dominating gross sales.
To remain related, Google and Samsung noticed that Put on OS wanted nearer telephone watch integration and improved well being monitoring. The issue is that this focus leaves little room for Put on OS manufacturers that do not have their very own telephones to sync software program, or the power to spend billions shopping for IP like Fitbit to compete.
Fossil gave us the Gen 6 Hybrid Wellness, the Skagen Falster Gen 6, and different sub-brand choices from Michael Kors, Citizen, and Kate Spade; now we have misplaced that concentrate on traditional design and any potential for extra versatile Put on OS hybrid watches. Even when Google leaving Fossil behind was a necessity for Put on OS to develop, it is nonetheless a disgrace!
February: OnePlus breathes contemporary air and battery energy into Put on OS
Fossil’s loss was simpler to swallow as a result of OnePlus took its place the next month, launching the OnePlus Watch 2 in February and the Watch 2R in July.
The Watch 2 has its personal points, doubtless stemming from OnePlus utilizing two completely different OS methods — Put on OS and RTOS — that did not all the time talk completely. Nevertheless it was additionally the discharge social gathering of Google’s Put on OS hybrid interface, which offloads background duties to the low-power coprocessor to avoid wasting battery life.
The OnePlus Watch simply lasts 3–4 days with no need a battery as huge as a TicWatch, giving a less expensive choice for anybody who does not wish to spend massive on a Galaxy Watch Extremely. And this deal with effectivity has paid off for Google and Samsung, too: Put on OS 5 has made their flagship watches final greater than two days below regular situations when older Put on OS watches all the time required every day fees (and typically twice– day-after-day).
I will additionally cheat and convey up Xiaomi, which formally joined the Put on OS household in late 2023 with the Watch 2 Professional, a number of years after an ill-fated Put on OS Mi Watch in 2019. It then offered the Watch 2 with Put on OS in February 2024. Now, with the OnePlus Watch 3 already rumored for early 2025, it is displaying that Chinese language OEMs see the profit in utilizing Put on OS as their base after largely ignoring it for a decade.
June-July: Samsung and OnePlus deliver again ‘free’ Put on OS
It does not take an trade professional to guess that Samsung designed the $199 Galaxy Watch FE as a spin on the Apple Watch SE, seeing an opportunity to focus on frugal followers searching for low-cost Android watches. It offers you years of free Put on OS updates, however I did not like how Samsung gave a 2024 watch a 2021 chip, making it really feel last-gen proper from the beginning; I feel it wanted a more recent Exynos chip, with cuts in different areas.
Then you’ve got the $229 OnePlus Watch 2R, which has the identical chip, show, RAM, battery, and software program because the Watch 2 for $70 much less, dropping the premium metal and extra sturdy glass. Mainly, it is the identical watch, just a bit uglier, which might be why it is not as low-cost because the Watch FE: higher parts.
Even when I am a heavy-duty smartwatch consumer who spends further on high quality, MOST folks want one thing inexpensive with out having to purchase an older mannequin; Put on OS getting extra inexpensive watches is an efficient signal that its market has grown past Android superfans.
August: Samsung experiments once more with the Galaxy Watch Extremely
When ten generations of Apple watches all look largely equivalent, you must give Samsung props for promoting three separate Professional, Traditional and Extremely watches in three years, every with a definite design and advantages. The core design of the Galaxy Watch hasn’t modified a lot, however a leak steered that Samsung may strive a rotating show for the Galaxy Watch 8.
The purpose is that Samsung is keen to strive new issues and see what works; The Galaxy Watch Extremely is the consequence. It is a trendy, rugged watch with a brilliant display screen, stable health efficiency and (sadly) a higher-than-usual price ticket. You might argue that Samsung has began charging a lot for a smartwatch, however it additionally hasn’t reserved as many killer options for it, which suggests the Galaxy Watch 7 continues to be engaging for options, not a lot for appears or battery. . You will not really feel a lot FOMO should you skip the Extremely.
Hopefully we’ll see extra “premium” smartwatches from Google, OnePlus and different manufacturers sooner or later, with designs that are not fairly so…techy.
September: Pixel Watch 3 closes the hole with Samsung
Google’s first Pixel watch had an outdated {hardware}, restricted Fitbit instruments, quick battery life, and a singular design that drew consideration. Every subsequent era fastened important flaws, and the Pixel Watch 3 is even nearer to being a really full package deal now that it has two display screen sizes and extra environment friendly battery life.
Though Google nonetheless lacks the Galaxy Watch in areas corresponding to sturdiness and size of software program assist, I discover it comprehensible for a third-generation watch towards a seventh-generation watch. And given Google’s well-known tendencies to kill tasks that are not on the spot hits, I am excited for the Pixel Watch lasted sufficient to repeat in certainly one of my favourite smartwatches, regardless that we by no means see Google listed among the many best-selling smartwatch manufacturers.
Fall: Put on OS 5 is implausible (aside from the presentation)
Put on OS 5 made the system extra battery environment friendly, lastly began resizing content material to suit bigger or smaller screens, made it simpler to imitate health watch exercises with “disappointing objectives” ” and added or improved Google’s core apps with Google Dwelling controls, the viewfinder digicam, Pixel Name Screener, and Recorder. In comparison with previous variations of Put on OS with extra boring replace logs, it was a powerful 12 months.
My solely gripe with Put on OS 5 is that it blocks certainly one of my favourite apps for the sake of higher battery life.
Samsung’s One UI 6 Watch replace targeted extra on Galaxy AI, with instruments like Power Score, Wellness Suggestions, gesture detection, and AI-suggested responses — although it additionally improved exercise instruments and added sleep apnea detection.
The one draw back to this feature-packed replace is that it made Put on OS updates even slower. Google needed to launch its Put on OS 5 replace in September as a result of the watches have been crashing, then took till mid-November to repair the issue. Samsung, which began rolling out Put on OS 4 to older Galaxy watches in August, solely began rolling out Put on OS 5 in November and completed in December. That is a vital hole!
A giant query will likely be whether or not manufacturers caught on Put on OS 4, corresponding to OnePlus, Xiaomi and Mobvoi, will be capable of replace to Put on OS 5 immediately, or will likely be left a 12 months or extra behind resulting from adjustments in its important. The following massive query is whether or not that is the brand new regular and whether or not Android watches will take so long as Android telephones to replace.
Now: Put on OS 5.1 and past in 2025
Other than the Put on OS 5.1 preview — an Android 15-backed replace that provides assist for a credential supervisor and enjoying music by way of the watch’s audio system — we can’t see any new Put on OS updates till March, in line with Google.
Nonetheless, I anticipate Put on OS watches to undergo much more thrilling adjustments in 2025, and I will cowl my predictions subsequent week, from the primary AI focus to long-overdue new watch {hardware}.
For now, I will return to my fundamental level: earlier than Put on OS 3, this web site really useful non-Put on OS watches to Android customers. And should you had instructed these trade specialists 4 years in the past that the Put on OS market can be so sturdy, they’d have been skeptical that Google may pull it off. So credit score the place credit score is due! When you’re searching for one of the best Android watch picks immediately, you are in all probability taking a look at Put on OS first.
