Wear OS

Google has made a variety of devices that run its platform, often positioning them as exemplars of those operating systems. The Nexus and Pixel devices, for example, are the epitome of Google's vision for Android, while the Pixel Chromebooks show OEMs and users how Chrome OS is supposed to behave. Google even has smart speakers that demonstrate the power of Google Assistant at home. The one kind of device that's still missing from the company's catalog is a smartwatch, but the Pixel Watch's debut might finally be at hand, and it will come with some interesting but not entirely surprising changes to the Wear OS experience.

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Google is gearing up to release its own smartwatch, insiders claim, and it may hit the market next year. The sources allege Google's smartwatch -- which has long been rumored under the name "Pixel Watch" -- will be designed to compete with the Apple Watch, potentially giving Wear OS the boost it needs to earn back consumer attention.

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Although Wear OS definitely has the upper hand when it comes to diversity, the Apple Watch irrefutably has the numbers in terms of market share. Google's wearable platform was, in fact, a very distant second as far smartwatch operating systems go, but that has suddenly changed in the last few months. Some might not like it, but it's actually mostly thanks to Samsung. But things might not remain that way unless Google picks up the slack and makes a better commitment to its own smartwatch ecosystem.

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Motorola was one of the very first major smartphone brands that embraced Android Wear (next to the LG G Watch), and it was also the first to adopt a circular body that has now become standard on smartwatches. As other big phone makers backed out of the smartwatch market, Motorola continued putting out Android Wear, now Wear OS, devices, even if not under its own name. Unfortunately, it seems that this tradition has finally come to a stop, and the newest Moto Watch 100 has very little in common with its predecessors that bear that iconic brand.

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When Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch 4, it started a new chapter in the company's wearable story, one that, at long last, embraced Google's wearable platform. For those used to Samsung's old ways, however, that might have also been a worrying change since it would have normally meant that the company would be quickly abandoning its older smartwatches. It turns out that those fears may have been unfounded, and Samsung is now announcing that a few key features from the Galaxy Watch 4 are being made available to older models going all the way back to the first Galaxy Watch.

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Samsung's entry into the Wear OS world helped reinvigorate Google's wearable platform, especially as it was timed with the launch of Wear OS 3. The situation is hardly perfect, though, since there is still no other smartwatch running the least Wear OS version other than Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. There is also the matter of Samsung's Tizen apps coming to Wear OS while remaining exclusive to Samsung, though that might not remain true for long if the company's Internet browser smartwatch app is any indication.

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Samsung is updating the Galaxy Watch 4, with a new software upgrade that adds fresh faces, fall detection, and gesture control to the wearable. Announced back in August, alongside, the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the Galaxy Watch 4 overlays Samsung's own One UI Watch atop Google's Wear OS.

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Although it has been on the smartwatch market for quite a while now, Mobvoi's name really peaked last year when it launched what was then the first and only smartwatch that used Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon Wear 4100. Although it dashed hopes that the company would immediately announce Wear OS 3 upgrades for its most recent models, it still might be one of the first on that track next year. To further widen its reach, it is launching the new TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS, which, despite being a mouthful, is confusingly similar to the TicWatch Pro 3.

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Google's commitment to Wear OS has been cast into doubt because of the lack of development and improvement before Wear OS 3 was announced last month. It also seemed like Google was snubbing its own wearable platform when something as basic as a YouTube Music app was unavailable on Wear OS while ironically present on Apple's competing watchOS. That finally changed with Wear OS 3, but only for the extremely small number of smartwatches. Thankfully, that has now changed, and YouTube Music is going out to even more and older Wear OS devices.

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One of the last things you'd probably want to do on a smartwatch is read a text-heavy piece of content, whether it be a long email, a book, or a website. All those use cases, however, may happen a few times in a smartwatch user's lifetime, and it's probably reassuring to know that they can do so if they really need to. Of course, you'll need to have the right app for that, and Samsung just rolled out the smartwatch version of its rather popular Internet browser for its latest Galaxy Watch 4 series.

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There have been many smartwatches and smartwatch makers over the years, but only a few have really managed to rise above the rest. In the Wear OS market, Mobvoi is one of the more prominent brands, with its TicWatch offering a fine balance of features and battery life, the latter thanks to its dual-screen strategy. It was also one of the first and still few smartwatch makers that utilizes the latest Snapdragon Wear chipsets, and it might be cementing that position next week when it launches the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS.

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Both Samsung and Apple have released their flagship wearables for the year 2021. The big smartwatch war has thus unfolded virtually, but for everyone, this time it’s a little different tussle than in the previous years. This time smartwatches from both the tech giants are confined to their ecosystems, which means, choosing between the options would be more a decision of requirement than choice.

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