Wear OS 3.0: the new Google operating system for smartwatches and wearables created with Samsung

Wear OS 3.0

Google this year brought a breath of fresh air when it comes to mobile operating systems. After seeing the news of Android 12, presented yesterday at the Google I / O 2021 event, today we are going to take a look at the new Wear OS.

For years, smartwatch software has suffered a lot. managing to evolve and improve with the right pace and consistency. Google has therefore decided to join forces with Samsung and merge the user experience of their operating systems to create an innovative and optimized hybrid. In this new marriage between the two giants of technology there was not even the touch of Fitbit, a recent acquisition by Google, which was able to contribute its wealth of knowledge relating to fitness and health monitoring.

This is therefore a rather important leap forward for smartwatches equipped with the Google operating system, at least on par with the one that occurred with Android 12. So let's find out all the news regarding Wear OS 3.0 coming in the coming months on the new smartwatches. br>

Fusion between Wear OS and Samsung's Tizen

The union between Google, Samsung and Fibit for the new Wear OS In 2014, Samsung had decided to abandon the use of Wear OS for its smartphone, while introducing the new operating system produced in house called Tizen OS. Google, on the other hand, continued to pursue its own path, bringing small improvements to its Wear OS year after year, but failing to keep up with the fierce competition; even Samsung was struggling to promote its advanced Tizen OS, so wisely the two companies decided to join forces and create a hybrid that is both innovative and well optimized.

The name of this new software is Wear OS 3.0 and its release on the market is expected by the end of the year. During the Google I / O Samsung has already formalized the presence of the new Wear on the Galaxy Watch of 2021. Those who have just bought a Samsung smartwatch with Tizen OS can rest assured, because the company has ensured software support for at least three years since the launch of the device. Furthermore, Samsung has never stressed that it wants to abandon the Tizen OS platform, which therefore may continue to exist and evolve in the future.

Performance

The three focal points of Wear OS 3.0 I focal points of Google and Samsung in this Wear OS 3.0 operating system were the satisfying user experience combined with the best applications for smartwatches, high performance and a decidedly prolonged autonomy. Thanks to software optimization, application startup has a 30% shorter startup time. All the animations were then refined and lightened to make the user experience more immediate and fluid. Google and Samsung engineers dug deep into the software to work on the most critical areas, which made consumption and autonomy the real Achilles heel of Wear OS. The use of new modern chipsets and their low consumption core, combined with the renewed Wear OS 3.0 now guarantee a much higher autonomy for all smartwatches.

New functions

The customization of Tiles in Wear OS 3.0 The advantage of the Android and Wear OS operating systems has always been their high level of customization, both graphically and in terms of functions. This new hybrid from Samsung and Google will maintain this strength and involve other manufacturers in the creation of the ideal operating system for each user.

As previously, each smartwatch manufacturer will be able to customize Wear OS 3.0 to suit its products and the target audience to which they will be destined. This will ensure a solid foundation shared by all, while offering greater diversity and an incentive for third-party manufacturers to create unique solutions for their devices. One of these will be linked to the Tiles, the main screens full of widgets and functions within Wear. These have been extended with the addition of new developer tools to offer greater customization.

Spotify on Wear OS 3.0 Wear OS 3.0 will be a new starting point for the most popular applications linked to the Google ecosystem . The new platform will welcome a revised version of Maps with turn-by-turn directions and Google Assistant, while Google Pay will reach 26 new countries. On the multimedia front, the new Wear OS will support YouTube Music with the ability to download your favorite songs directly on the smartwatch to be able to listen to them anywhere. Spotify will not be cut off, in fact it too will allow you to download podcasts and music on devices with Wear OS. Finally, each application will be well integrated into the Tiles, giving developers the possibility to customize every aspect of this integration to make the interfaces rich and functional.

Health and physical activity

The collaboration between Fibit and Google for Wear OS As mentioned earlier, Google recently acquired Fitbit, the popular fitness band and smartwatch manufacturer. Fitbit will ditch its Fitbit OS and be one of the first manufacturers to embrace the new Wear OS 3.0 for wearables. The knowledge gained over the years of Fitbit OS development will not be lost, on the contrary, it will be present in Wear OS to improve the monitoring of health and our physical activity.

On Wear OS we will therefore find the Today section, where all information regarding our daily physical movement will be collected. There will also be functions for monitoring numerous types of exercise and physical activity, the Fitbit "Active Zone Minutes" function and all the goals and objectives to be achieved to challenge yourself and your friends. Initially, all data will still be managed by the Fitbit application, currently the most advanced towards Google Fit. In the future, however, we expect everything to be transferred to the official application for greater integration.

Custom tile on Watch OS 3.0 The collaboration with Samsung was also fundamental for health and physical activity. By joining forces, the two development teams have managed to optimize the framework used by Wear OS to make it more accurate, lighter in terms of consumption and easier to use for third-party developers. The new Wear OS APIs for the "Health and Fitness Framework" will arrive in the coming months and can be exploited by everyone to create dedicated applications.

We hope that all these important changes for Wear OS will help him make the difficult climb in the smartwatch market. Officially, the first devices with the new Wear OS will arrive towards the end of the year, while in the coming weeks developers and beta testers will be able to get their hands on the new operating system to implement it properly in their devices and adapt their applications.

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