Wear OS 3 has brought a lot of positive changes to the smartwatch platform but also some frustrating problems. Like other smartwatches, Mobvoi’s new TicWatch Pro 5 will lack support for Google Assistant on the new update.
Top comment by Feanor
There is one obvious factor that the article doesn't mention. Google Assistant is available for the Pixel Watch and the Samsung Galaxy watches 4 and 5. What do they have in common? They run on a Samsung Exynos chip. The rest of the Wear OS smartwatches run on Qualcomm Snapdragon chips. So, Google has made Assistant work only on Exynos chips. I normally would expect Google to make Assistant available on the latest Snapdragon W5+ gen 1 (basically the Ticwatch 5 Pro), but I wouldn't hold my breath for all other watches running on the older 4100+.
Google Assistant was a key selling point of older versions of Wear OS, but it’s been hit or miss since the debut of Wear OS 3. Google’s Pixel Watch was the first to launch with support, and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 and 5 got access via updates. But other Wear OS 3 watches, such as those from Fossil and Montblanc, have just not had support in any capacity.
From the looks of things, this is something Google is purposefully, oddly, holding back from general Wear OS watches, and it affects the TicWatch Pro 5 too.
The new smartwatch doesn’t have Assistant installed, nor can it be downloaded from the Play Store. While that’s unfortunate in its own right, it’s all the more frustrating because the lack of Google Assistant leaves the TicWatch Pro 5 without any voice assistant – Fossil at least has Alexa.
Speaking to 9to5Google, Mobvoi confirmed that it is working with Google for Assistant support in the future. But, with Google pulling back on Assistant elsewhere too, so I wouldn’t really expect any news here for a while.
More on Wear OS:
- Wear OS 3 for TicWatch inches towards release, Mobvoi explains 7-month delay
- Google announces Wear OS 4, Gmail and Calendar for watches, more
- Apple Watch to revive widgets, which could be good for Wear OS
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