Google has revealed more details on Wear OS 3, its freshly-named unified smartwatch platform, and we could forgive Android wearable fans for being mightily unimpressed by the news. Announced back in May, the collaboration between Google and Samsung was billed as a way to combine Wear and Tizen into a single OS. Problem is, that sort of big change comes with some big issues, too.
The dream of having mobile devices and wearables running open source software hasn't exactly died out, but neither has it reached any form of commercial success, for better or worse. Some companies continue to push niche devices that target more tech-savvy users that are willing to sacrifice some conveniences in exchange for more freedom in the software they use. Pine64, perhaps better known for its ARM Single-board Computers (SBCs), is one of the very few supporters of that movement, and it has just launched what may be the world's first commercial open source smartwatch, the PineTime.
Although Wear OS has been around for a long time now, especially if you consider its former Android Wear incarnation, its strength came from sheer numbers rather than platform strength or brand loyalty. Many found Wear OS itself to be decent, if not mediocre at best, while the hardware it ran on was considered to be a few steps behind the competition like the Apple Watch or Samsung's Tizen-based Galaxy Watches. This year may see a resurgence of interest in Google's wearable platform, and Qualcomm is losing no time to say that it will be a driving force behind that renaissance.
Vigorous exercising, especially running, has well-described benefits. Whether you run to sweat or meet your fitness goals; tracking and monitoring your pace, distance and health is important. Running watches are an optimal and convenient way to monitor your daily regime. These smartwatches are specially made to be worn while running, whether indoors or outdoors, and to track associated metrics including time, speed, distance and in some cases even heart rate, O2 levels and sleep.
Smartwatches naturally have fewer hardware resources than their smartphone partners, but Wear OS smartwatches have been unpopular for having rather mediocre hardware in comparison to other platforms. That is particularly true with the processor that most vendors use, with technologies dating back to 2018 or older. The upcoming Wear OS attempts to break away from that bold, but its first incarnation might be taking things even farther. If these latest leaks are correct, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 could be one of the most powerful smartwatches yet.
Most of the leaks for Samsung's next batch of devices have focused on its foldable phones. There is, however, just as much interest in its next smartwatches, mostly because of the fusion of Google's Wear OS platform and Samsung's One UI experience. There have been a few leaks and rumors here and there, but it seems that we've been treated to what could be the closest thing to official details. All thanks to a clerical error over at Amazon Canada.
We've seen quite a good number of leaks about Samsung's next products, and, in fact, there might be an overabundance of them. These are, of course, unofficial images, mostly renders, of the products, often based on other leaks and rumors. It's an entirely different matter when Samsung itself does the teasing, even for a split second. Unfortunately, this brief sighting of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Watch 4 doesn't add anything substantially new to the growing body of knowledge about these products.
Although it isn't exactly its first wearable, the OnePlus Watch is the company's first dip into the smartwatch pool. Not all first tries come out perfectly, however, and the OnePlus Watch seems to have disappointed many reviewers. Fortunately, most of those criticisms can be addressed with software updates, but some found the hardware to also be mediocre or common. iFixit takes the OnePlus Watch through its usual teardown process, and, fortunately, it was uneventful in a good way.
Samsung was one of the first major smartphone makers to jump on the smartwatch ship, and, unsurprisingly, its first smartwatch didn't use Google's nascent Android Wear back then. It struck off on its own with a customized version of Android running inside the Samsung Galaxy Gear. It has come full circle and has returned to Android again, this time with Wear OS running on the upcoming Galaxy Watch 4 series. Surprisingly, there might still be some owners of the Galaxy Gear around, and Samsung is now urging them to switch to its Tizen OS if they want access to some smartwatch apps.
It seems that Samsung's Unpacked has been set, and fans will be counting down the days to the company's new devices. Most of the attention will probably be lavished on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3, and, without the Galaxy S21 FE, that will be it as far as phones are concerned. That said, Samsung does also have wearables destined to debut at the same time, and a new rumor gives those excited for the Galaxy Watch 4 series and Galaxy Buds 2 an idea of how much they need to save up.
It seems that Samsung is really ready to go all out on its next generation of wearables powered, not by its own Tizen OS, but Wear OS by Google. In addition to making a big splash about the new user experience that will arrive with the merger of One UI and Wear OS, we have also heard about at least two smartwatch models that will be available in various sizes or configurations. One of those will apparently be called the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, and, based on these leaked renders, it will be giving that name its due.
An Apple Watch case collection called RESKAR was revealed by the folks at GRAY this week. The accessories don't exactly change the way the user wears an Apple Watch, and the device still remains a watch. But if ever there were a set of watchbands and encasement elements for Apple Watch that made the device look like a different machine altogether - this is it.