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Wear OS ‘H update’ w/ Android 9 Pie begins rolling out to some Gen 4 Fossil, Skagen watches

In November, Android 9 Pie began rolling out to Wear OS as the “System Version: H Update.” The first watch line to widely receive it last year was Fossil’s Gen 3 devices, and now the update is rolling out to Gen 4 wearables from Fossil, including those from Skagen.

The Fossil Group makes the vast majority of Wear OS devices, with the watches branded by Skagen and of course Fossil, but sharing the same underlying hardware. According to reports today, Gen 4 watches like the Fossil Explorist HR and Skagen Falster 2 are receiving the H update. Others like the Fossil Sport have yet to receive it in our brief testing.

Over the past 12 hours, the update appears to be rolling out automatically, with users that manually (and repeatedly) tap the “System updates” button in settings having some luck. This initiates the OTA download and lengthy install process.

Back in November, Google noted that the “update will be progressively rolling out over the coming months.” The new System Version numbering format was also introduced alongside “H.”

The big focus of Android 9 Pie for Wear OS is smart battery saving features. A new battery saver mode only displays the time and date, while there is a deep sleep mode if the watch is not worn. Standby is also improved, while smart app resume allows for better application switching. There is also a proper power menu that gives users a quick way to turn off a device or restart.

Other notable changes include the Google Sans font, and some reorganized menus in settings. However, the bulk of features were introduced with an earlier Wear OS 2.1 update that added quick access to Assistant and Google Fit.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com