Wear OS

While Wear OS sits in limbo waiting on its big upgrade to launch on other hardware, some brands are still putting out new hardware. As an upgrade to its previously released TicWatch Pro 3, Mobvoi has just officially confirmed it will launch an “Ultra” version.

The Galaxy Watch 4 is the best watch you can buy with Wear OS today, and a big part of that comes down to Samsung’s software add-ons. Today, Samsung has released its web browser to the Galaxy Watch 4 so users can access the internet from their wrist.

For years now, the smartwatch market has not been kind to Android users. The Apple Watch only works with iPhones. Fitness watches are usually great for health but not-so-great at being a smartwatch. And as for Google’s Wear OS, it’s been stagnant for years. Samsung’s Tizen platform and Galaxy Watch lineup were the only saving grace, but even that had its own complications if you weren’t using it alongside a Galaxy smartphone. Now, Samsung has moved from Tizen to Google’s revamped Wear OS 3 with the Galaxy Watch 4, and we’re finally getting somewhere.

In addition to debuting Wear OS 3, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 was the first wearable to have a client for Google’s streaming service. The YouTube Music app is now coming to Wear OS 2 watches.

The Wear OS market is in a state of transition thanks to Google’s big revamp, and that makes some of the only watches worth buying the TicWatch Pro 3 and TicWatch E3 from Mobvoi that run on the Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip. Though, suddenly, the listings for those TicWatch models have been updated to claim they are now using the Snapdragon 4100+.

Google’s wearable platform is seeing a big push in the coming months with more new devices expected to accompany the revamped OS. As part of this, a “Health Services” app for Wear OS is now available in the Play Store.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 is now out on the market, and it’s getting its first update since landing on customer’s wrists. This week’s update is for the Galaxy Watch 4 specifically and delivers improved performance of the touch bezel.

Fossil smartwatches have long been some of the best you can get on Wear OS, in part because their styling is traditional and looks great. That’s an element only enhanced by the built-in watchfaces, but a recent update to the Fossil Gen 5 series has stripped away quite a few watchfaces.

The next version of Google’s wearable platform has now properly arrived and it will be experienced by more users in the coming months. Ahead of that, Google is introducing updated app quality guidelines for Wear OS 3.

Here we are, a week after Samsung has started selling its first Wear OS smartwatch in years, the Galaxy Watch 4 series. These two smartwatches are flagships by almost every definition, but as we’ve had the chance to use them for a few weeks, there’s one thing that’s very clear. Samsung isn’t going to “save” Wear OS, that’s very much on Google’s shoulders.

The next generation of Wear OS demands more power than previous versions, which means new chips are also in order. Qualcomm is supposedly bringing the “Snapdragon 5100” to market in the not too distant future, but some new details hint that it might be a relatively minor upgrade.

The popular messaging service Telegram just released its 8.0 update today with a few new features, but there’s an unfortunate loss for Android users. Unfortunately, it seems like Telegram has quietly killed off its Wear OS app.

Fitness tracking service Strava has updated its Wear OS app this week, and in doing so, it’s decided to leave Wear OS 2.0 watches behind.

The biggest update to Wear OS in years is out now, albeit with a heavy skin on Samsung’s new hardware. Still, it brings with it some app revamps, including a brand new Google Maps app for Wear OS. Here’s how the updated app works.