Wear OS

While some areas are beginning to re-open, COVID-19 continues to be a major concern around the world today. One of the best ways to fight the spread of diseases of all kinds is to wash your hands frequently and thoroughly. With the latest update to Wear OS, it appears Google is preparing a new tile with a timer to help you wash your hands thoroughly.

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The smartwatch market has been heating up for the past few years, and despite basically everything else going wrong in 2020, smartwatches are doing just fine. According to a report for Q1 2020, smartwatches saw a 20% jump in popularity… but Wear OS didn’t see any good news there.

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One of the best ways to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus is to wash your hands, and Google has come up with a clever way to help users do just that. If you use a Wear OS smartwatch, a new periodic reminder will tell you to wash your hands.

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In 2018, Google Fit received a big redesign that introduced Move Minutes and Heart Points as an easy to digest health metric. After coming to iOS last year, the mobile and Wear OS apps are getting a redesign today that emphasizes step count.

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Apple this morning revealed the surprising acquisition of the excellent Dark Sky weather app. In the process, Dark Sky for Android and Wear OS will be killed by Apple later this year.

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Wear OS spawns a ton of different form factors and wildly different designs too. Today, TAG Heuer has launched its latest Wear OS smartwatch, the TAG Heuer Connected 2020 which delivers updated specs and a price tag you still can’t justify.

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The challenges facing Google in the wearables arena won’t instantly be solved by the recent acquiring of Fitbit, but after claiming 6% of the market share in 2019, at least it now some sort of “foothold” in the wearable space.

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Back in 2018, luxury brand Montblanc was the first to launch a Snapdragon Wear 3100 watch. Montblanc is now back with a Summit 2+ that’s slightly larger and adds LTE. Meanwhile, this debut is coinciding with Google adding eSIM activation and management from the Wear OS companion app.

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Google’s Wear OS platform isn’t the best for wearables today, but it’s a solid foundation that powers a lot of smartwatches that might soon get a lot better. Now, if you have a Samsung smartphone, Google is making the Wear OS app available through the Samsung Galaxy Store.

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Google usually hides Easter eggs in its products, and it turns out Wear OS is no exception! As highlighted recently by some Redditors, there’s a fun little Easter egg hidden with Wear OS’ flashlight app — a little drum sequencer.

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After its acquisition of Fitbit last year and accompanying teasing from Google itself, many are hoping to see a revamp to Wear OS particularly in the realm of fitness/health tracking. Now, a survey from Google directly is giving us a glimpse into what sort of health tracking features Google may be working on for the platform.

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The strength of Google’s Wear OS platform isn’t the software itself, but rather the huge collection of hardware available to use it on. For a while, Skagen’s Falster 2 was one of the best Wear OS designs, but it struggled due to its specifications. With the Skagen Falster 3, there’s a huge upgrade in that department which makes one of the best looking Wear OS smartwatches one of the best across the board.

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Unlike Android, Google’s Wear OS is pretty locked down to OEM customization, but thankfully, apps and watchfaces can help make one watch unique when compared to others. For the past several weeks, I’ve been able to see through my wife’s usage how the Kate Spade Sport pushes customization on Wear OS better than any other watch I’ve seen.

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Throughout the life of Google’s ambitions with smartwatches, perhaps the most iconic release has been the Moto 360. From its first-generation that caught everyone’s attention, to the second which, well — didn’t — the Moto 360 has been the one Wear OS watch everyone seemed to love. Now, in 2020, the Moto 360 is back, and it’s a serious contender for Wear OS’ best offering. Here’s what you need to know.

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Wear OS may have quite a lot of problems, mainly in that it lags way behind the competition when it comes to features, fitness, and most importantly, battery life. However, there’s a core strength to Wear OS that’s highlighted by the Diesel Axial I’ve been wearing for the past month – you can truly find anything you want on this platform.

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