Put on OS Weekly
My new weekly column focuses on the state of Put on OS, from new developments and updates to the most recent apps and options we wish to spotlight.
Three years after Samsung and Google introduced their Put on OS partnership to save lots of Android smartwatches from mediocrity, I am pleased to state the plain: the gambit paid off, and Put on OS in 2024 was stronger than ever.
As a relative newcomer to Android watches, I wasn’t round for this dismal pre-2021 period of Put on OS watches. After I appeared again at editorials from previous Android Central editors, I noticed years of complaints about sluggish efficiency, mediocre health options, a stagnant app ecosystem for builders, and a basic feeling that Google had no concept what it was doing and that Tizen, Fitbit, and Garmin supplied higher Android watches.
Nobody thinks that now. It isn’t that Galaxy and Pixel Watches are excellent, however they’ve change into way more multifaceted, providing greater than notifications and Google Assistant. You will have extra assurance that any watch you purchase will get years of assist, and you’ll see how Android OEMs like OnePlus see the potential of Put on OS and assume it is right here to remain (in contrast to different Killed-by-Google experiments).
Wanting again on the trail of Put on OS watches in 2024, I am optimistic that the very best years of Android’s wearable ecosystem are forward.
January 2024: Fossil offers up
I am beginning off with the 12 months’s low level, in my thoughts: Fossil determined to cease making smartwatches in 2024, after its Put on OS 3 and three.5 updates took a couple of 12 months longer than Google and Samsung’s.
Except for Mobvoi TicWatches stubbornly sticking round, Google’s pre-Put on OS 3 purchasers have quietly given up on the model, both unable to compete on software program or not seeing the upside with Samsung dominating gross sales.
To stay related, Google and Samsung noticed that Put on OS wanted nearer phone-watch integration and improved well being monitoring. The issue is that this focus leaves little room for Put on OS manufacturers that do not have their very own telephones to sync software program, or the power to spend billions buying IP like Fitbit to compete.
Fossil gave us the Gen 6 Hybrid Wellness, the Skagen Falster Gen 6, and different subbrand choices from Michael Kors, Citizen, and Kate Spade; now we have misplaced that focus to classic-style design and any probably likelihood of hybrid Put on OS watches with extra selection. Even when Google leaving Fossil behind was a necessity for Put on OS to develop, it is nonetheless a disgrace!
February: OnePlus breathes recent air and battery energy into Put on OS
Shedding Fossil was simpler to swallow as a result of OnePlus took its place the next month, launching the OnePlus Watch 2 in February and Watch 2R in July.
The Watch 2 has its points, probably stemming from OnePlus utilizing two totally different OSes — Put on OS and RTOS — that did not all the time talk completely. However it was additionally the coming-out occasion for Google’s Put on OS Hybrid Interface, which relegates background duties to the low-powered coprocessor to save lots of battery life.
OnePlus’s watch simply lasts 3–4 days with no need as huge a battery as a TicWatch, giving a less expensive choice for anybody who did not wish to shell out the massive bucks for a Galaxy Watch Extremely. And this concentrate on effectivity has paid off for Google and Samsung, too: Put on OS 5 has made their mainline watches final nearer to 2 days in regular situations when previous Put on OS watches all the time required each day prices (and typically twice-daily).
I will additionally cheat and produce up Xiaomi, which formally rejoined the Put on OS household in late 2023 with the Watch 2 Professional, just a few years after its one ill-fated Put on OS Mi Watch in 2019. It then bought the Watch 2 with Put on OS in February 2024. Now, with the OnePlus Watch 3 already rumored for early 2025, it is telling that Chinese language OEMs see the profitability in utilizing Put on OS as their baseline after largely ignoring it for a decade.
June-July: Samsung and OnePlus convey again ‘low-cost’ Put on OS
It does not take an trade knowledgeable to guess that Samsung designed the $199 Galaxy Watch FE as its spin on the Apple Watch SE, seeing an opportunity to focus on thrifty followers in search of low-cost Android watches. It offers you years of Put on OS updates for reasonable, however I disliked how Samsung gave a 2024 watch a 2021 chip, making it really feel last-gen from the beginning; I feel it wanted a more moderen Exynos chip, with cutbacks in different areas.
Then you might have the $229 OnePlus Watch 2R, which has the identical chip, show, RAM, battery, and software program because the Watch 2 for $70 much less, reducing again on premium metal and extra sturdy glass. Principally, it is the identical watch, solely a bit uglier, which is maybe why it isn’t fairly as low-cost because the Watch FE: higher elements.
Even when I am the form of smartwatch energy consumer who spends further for high quality, most individuals favor one thing inexpensive with out having to purchase an older mannequin; Put on OS getting extra bargain-priced watches is an efficient signal that its market has grown exterior of Android superfans.
August: Samsung experiments once more with the Galaxy Watch Extremely
When ten generations of Apple Watches all look largely equivalent, you need to give props to Samsung for promoting three separate Professional, Basic, and Extremely watches in three years, every with a definite design and perks. The mainline Galaxy Watch design hasn’t modified a lot, however one leak prompt Samsung would possibly strive a squircle show for the Galaxy Watch 8.
The purpose is Samsung is keen to strive new issues and see what works; the Galaxy Watch Extremely is the consequence. It is a fashionable, rugged watch with a vibrant show, robust health efficiency, and (sadly) a higher-than-usual price ticket. You possibly can resent the truth that Samsung has began charging a lot for a smartwatch, nevertheless it additionally did not reserve that many killer options for it, that means the Galaxy Watch 7 continues to be interesting for options, simply not as a lot for appears or battery. You will not really feel an excessive amount of FOMO should you skip the Extremely.
Hopefully, we’ll see extra “premium” smartwatches from Google, OnePlus, and different manufacturers sooner or later, with designs that are not fairly so…techy.
September: The Pixel Watch 3 closes the hole with Samsung
Google’s first Pixel Watch had outdated {hardware}, restricted Fitbit instruments, quick battery life, and a singular design that drew the attention. Every subsequent era mounted important flaws, and the Pixel Watch 3 has gotten even nearer to being a really full package deal now that it has two show sizes and extra environment friendly battery life.
Despite the fact that Google nonetheless falls wanting the Galaxy Watch in areas like sturdiness and size of software program assist, I discover that comprehensible for a third-generation watch up in opposition to a seventh-gen watch. And given Google’s well-known tendencies to kill initiatives that are not prompt successes, I am thrilled the Pixel Watch lasted lengthy sufficient to iterate into one among my favourite smartwatches, regardless that we by no means see Google listed among the many top-selling smartwatch manufacturers.
Fall: Put on OS 5 is implausible (aside from the rollout)
Put on OS 5 made the system extra battery-efficient, lastly began reflowing content material to match bigger or smaller shows, made it simpler to emulate health watches’ exercises with “debounced targets,” and added or upgraded core Google apps with Google Dwelling controls, Digicam viewfinder, Pixel Name Screening, and Recorder. In comparison with previous Put on OS variations with extra boring replace logs, it was a powerful 12 months.
My solely gripe with Put on OS 5 is that it blocks one among my favourite apps for the sake of higher battery life.
Samsung’s One UI 6 Watch spinoff targeted extra on Galaxy AI, with instruments like Vitality Rating, Wellness Suggestions, gesture detection, and AI-suggested replies — although it additionally improved exercise instruments and added sleep apnea detection.
The one draw back to this feature-packed replace is that it made Put on OS updates even slower. Google needed to roll its Put on OS 5 replace again in September as a result of it was crashing watches, then it took till mid-November to repair the problem. Samsung, which began rolling out Put on OS 4 to previous Galaxy Watches in August, solely started its Put on OS 5 rollout in November and completed in December. That is a considerable hole!
One massive query can be whether or not manufacturers caught on Put on OS 4, like OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Mobvoi, will be capable of promptly replace to Put on OS 5 or stay a 12 months or extra behind due to its substantial adjustments. The opposite massive query is whether or not that is the brand new regular and whether or not Android watches will take so long as Android telephones to replace.
Now: Put on OS 5.1 and past into 2025
Except for the Put on OS 5.1 preview — an Android 15-backed replace that provides assist for a credential supervisor and enjoying music on watch audio system — we’re not going to see any new Put on OS updates by March, in keeping with Google.
Nonetheless, I count on Put on OS watches to undergo much more thrilling adjustments in 2025, and I will cowl my predictions subsequent week, from a significant AI focus to long-overdue new watch {hardware}.
For now, I will return to my foremost level: earlier than Put on OS 3, this web site beneficial non-Put on OS watches to Android customers. And should you’d advised these trade specialists 4 years in the past that the Put on OS market could be this robust, they’d have been skeptical that Google may pull it off. So credit score the place credit score’s due! In case you’re in search of the finest Android watch picks right this moment, you are most likely taking a look at Put on OS first.
