Ahead of Google I/O 2021, there were rumours that Samsung planned to switch back to Wear OS on its upcoming wearables. Instead, what we got is a collaboration between Samsung and Google to develop Wear OS, bringing the best of Tizen and Google's smartwatch platform together.
Google didn't really show off the new operating system, but from what we've seen so far, there will be navigation changes. Like, you can double-tap a physical button on the watch case to switch between current and previous apps.
The company wants to expand Tiles, a feature where you can swipe horizontally through a mix of widgets and third-party apps. This feature was previously limited to first-party functions. But, now Google is opening it to third-party examples. We've seen a relaxation timer from Calm so far.
According to Google, it learned from Samsung how to improve battery efficiency and run some processes in the background, so you get a better user experience. Apps should be 30 percent faster with smoother animations and transitions.
According to Engadget's interview with the director of product management for Wear OS Bjorn Kilburn, Google has "been working intensely with Fitbit and Samsung to completely rebuild the health and fitness framework on Wear." The aim is to offer better health and fitness tracking, an area where Wear OS still needed improvement. The platform doesn't have a well-integrated exercise-tracking system yet.
Google-owned Fitbit is working on an app for Wear that'll bring tools like workout monitoring, health and activity tracking, and on-screen celebrations. We don't know if the platform will get Fitbit's sleep-tracking feature, too.
Google also plans to refresh the experience of its apps on Wear OS, including Pay, Maps, YouTube Music, and Assistant. There will be offline music playback support for apps like YouTube Music and Spotify and turn-by-turn navigation on Maps.
As for hardware, Fitbit said it's working on "premium smartwatches" based on the new OS. And Samsung's upcoming devices will feature this co-engineered OS instead of Tizen. The company does plan to support Tizen for the next three years.