Google announces Wear OS 4 for more autonomous and customizable watches
Google has announced Wear OS 4, the new version of its system for connected watches. This update will specifically allow watches to become autonomous.
This week, Google is holding its annual developer conference, the Google I/O conference. Like every year, this is an opportunity for Mountain View to take stock of its various services and key new features expected in its operating systems. After news related to Android 14, the company also focused on connected watches by releasing the next version of its operating system, Wear OS 4.
It should be said that Wear OS 3 was presented two years ago, during Google I/O 2021. Later, it became an opportunity for Google to cement its partnership with Samsung by announcing the integration of Wear OS and Tizen. However, since this announcement, some watches have been updated to Wear OS 3. After all, the system has been subject to many criticisms, starting with its very limited autonomy. It’s at this point that Google is trying to push forward with Wear OS 4.
Better autonomy management
A A post published on his blogGoogle mentions “Regular platform updates keep Wear OS watches, Pixel Watch, and Galaxy Watch smoother, safer, and longer-running.The company also notes that these improvements will become more visible once Wear OS 4 is scheduled.Later in the year“.
Among the new features specific to Wear OS 4, Google announces the arrival of better management of the voice collection or automatic backups of your watch data.
Easily create dials
Google also claims to have revamped the faces of Wear OS watches.Watch face format» Developed in partnership with Samsung. In short, dials can now be saved in .xml file format, making their development as easy as possible. “The Wear OS platform takes care of the logic needed to display the watch face, so you no longer have to worry about code optimization or battery performance.” says Google In a separate article. These patterns can govern complications and color, size of hands, color of dial or even customization options. You can easily create them in Watch Face Studio, a dedicated software that you can download directly to your computer.
Other new features of Wear OS 4 are app tiles that can be found to the left or right of the home dial and act as widgets for various apps. Google says a new version of its system for connected watches will allow it to better manage animations on these tiles for more graphic transitions when moving from one to the other.
New applications for connected watches
Google took advantage of its conference to announce the arrival of new apps for watches under Wear OS. This is especially true for the Google Calendar and Gmail applications.Later in the yearBut the Peloton bike app, the Todoist to-do list app or the already announced WhatsApp messaging app.
As of now, it is not yet known when Wear OS 4 will be rolled out. As with Wear OS 3, it looks like Samsung will have the first version of this new version with the expected launch of its Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Pro in early August. A developer preview version of Wear OS 4 is already available Available in prototype.
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