Almost all of Google's mobile projects are successful. Android, Google Play, Google Camera – the list is endless. It is immediately evident that the company is burning with what they do and trying to give all the best. Another thing is that misfires sometimes happen too. Take, for example, the Wear OS operating system, which, although it is in variable demand among the audience, in fact remains a rather passing story. But Google is still hoping to make it the premier wearable platform on the market.
Wear OS gets a massive update
This summer, Google announced plans to release a massive update to Wear OS. The company has promised that the release will take place later this fall, preferring not to give any specifics. In principle, this was understandable, because the coronavirus pandemic made serious adjustments to the plans of many corporations, which were forced to replay a lot. Google itself faced the consequences of the epidemic in the summer, when three times in a row it was forced to postpone the launch of the beta testing program Android 11. But the Wear OS update came out as timely as possible.
What's new in the Wear OS update
Google has seriously shoveled Wear OS to make it work better
Typically, major updates contain an abundance of new features. But in the case of Wear OS, things turned out to be a little different. This time, Google decided to pay attention not to small and meaningless innovations, but to literally shovel the operating system to bring it to a qualitatively new level. Here's what happened to the OS after the update:
- Improving system performance on a watch with 1 GB of RAM or less;
- Increase the download and launch speed of installed applications by 20%;
- Redesign and increase the consistency of the placement of controls;
- Increasing the sensitivity of sensors that determine the start of training;
- Translation of the operating system kernel from Android 9 to Android 11;
- Changing the method of initial clock setting in order to speed up the process;
- Improving stability while maintaining a connection with a smartphone;
- Increased battery life for all watch models.
As you can see, there were really a lot of changes, although Google did not focus on new features. In principle, this is logical. After all, if you think about it, what other functions does a smart watch need? It will be quite difficult to teach them to measure pressure without special sensors, and there is almost no point in launching applications from Google Play on them. So Google developers did what they had to do – they focused on overall platform stability improvements, performance gains that are never superfluous, and power savings that boost autonomy.
When is the Wear OS update coming out?
The update will be distributed gradually
Despite the fact that Google has already released a fresh update to Wear OS in the release, it is rolling out gradually and so far only comes out on smartwatches of some manufacturers. Most likely, the limited availability is associated with the company's intention to test the changes that have occurred to the operating system, so that if something happens, it will be able to recall it with minimal losses. After all, if users turn their gadgets into bricks as a result of the update, the search giant will have to urgently do something, otherwise the whole process may take a little longer, but it will obviously be safer.
As for the relevance of the update itself, then there may be questions. As you know, today there are two leaders in the smart watch market – Apple and Samsung. But neither one nor the other use Wear OS, equipping their gadgets with proprietary platforms: watchOS and Tizen OS. Therefore, the Wear OS audience will clearly be rather scarce. These are the owners of smart watches Huawei, Honor, LG, Motorola and Xiaomi. But the whole problem is that most of these brands have not been producing anything for a long time. And, therefore, it is still difficult to say whether anyone will appreciate the released update or not.