What do you want to know
- Ahead of Google I/O next month, Google revealed a preliminary schedule for developer sessions.
- One of these sessions is a preview of Wear OS 5 and is the first official confirmation from Google that a Wear OS upgrade will arrive this year.
- The description for the “Building the Future of Wear OS” session includes some early details on what the upgrade will bring.
Google I/O 2024 is quickly coming to the forefront, as the event kicks off in a few weeks and could bring new hardware and software announcements from Google. The company gave us our first real idea of what to expect when it released a preliminary 2024 I/O schedule on Thursday, April 25. This schedule includes early confirmation that a Wear OS upgrade will be available soon.
There are four main categories of events at Google I/O this year: mobile, web, ML/AI, and cloud. One of the mobile sessions is titled “Building the Future of Wear OS” and explicitly mentions Wear OS 5 – the unreleased version of Wear OS that was supposed to be released this year – as a goal. In January, references to Wear OS 5 were spotted in a build of Android 14, hinting that an upgrade was on the horizon.
However, Google has not officially confirmed that Wear OS 5 will be released in the near future. While we expect to hear about upcoming Android updates at Google I/O, Wear OS upgrades are typically released on a staggered and inconsistent schedule. That’s why Google’s announcement has more significance than a typical Google I/O software announcement and bodes well for the future of Google’s wearable ecosystem.
What we know so far about Wear OS 5
Surprisingly, Google revealed a bit about Wear OS 5 in its preview session description. “In this presentation, we will discover the new features of Wear OS 5,” says Google. “This includes advances in watch face format and how to design and build for a growing range of device sizes.”
The Watch Face format was introduced about a year ago alongside Wear OS 4, and Google explains that it “can be used to create watch faces directly, or it can be integrated into creation tools, allowing designers to create watch faces without having to write anything.” executable code.” This shifted much of the burden of creating a custom watch face – such as optimization, updates and bug fixes – from individual developers to the Wear OS platform. Plus, it added a consistent user interface for editing watch faces in both first-party and third-party options.
This gives watch face designers many ways to customize their offerings and pairs perfectly with Samsung’s Watch Face Studio, which can be used to create XML-based watch faces in Watch Face format.
So, Google’s talks about updating the watch face format in Wear OS 5 could bring new features and options to your favorite watch faces. There could be new ways to display complications, adapt the appearance of a watch face depending on the situation, or add new design tools. This is just speculation, but Google is clearly offering some new tricks in the updated watch face format that will be shown off at I/O 2024.
The only thing we are sure of is that the Watch Face Format, or watch face design software, will be updated to help developers create smartwatches of different sizes. Google says this in the description of the Wear OS 5 showcase, and it’s not really surprising. Rumors are swirling that Google will finally add a new, larger Pixel Watch later this year in the Pixel Watch 3 series. It makes sense that it would want to ensure that Wear OS watch faces will look good on all models of Pixel Watch.
We’ve come a long way since Google’s neglect of Wear OS
Forget specific features – it’s a huge achievement that we’re getting a Wear OS 5 upgrade this year. Wear OS devices are hitting their stride, with Samsung releasing excellent Galaxy Watch models and Google joining in with the Pixel Watch over a year ago. In this context, it’s easy to forget how weak the entire Wear OS platform was just a few years ago.
Browsing through Google’s Wear OS forums, you can find countless examples of early Wear OS adopters describing the platform’s uncertain future and issues that haven’t been fixed for months or years. A 2020 article asked: “Is Google abandoning Wear OS?” ” and received support from other Wear OS users before it was locked and replies disabled. The problem cited in the post? Google had developed a YouTube Music app for watchOS, but not for Wear OS. It’s a perfect microcosm of the problems that plagued the dark days of Wear OS.
Now things are bouncing back, and the release of Wear OS 5 this year could mark the start of a consistent annual release schedule for Google for major version updates. This would put it on par with Apple’s watchOS release schedule and would be great news for Wear OS users. The hardware available in Wear OS watches is pretty good in 2024, thanks to chips like the Snapdragon W5 Plus Gen 1, but the software still lags behind Apple Watch models in many ways. Now, with Google seemingly getting into Wear OS with partner Samsung, that could change for good.
News Source : www.androidcentral.com
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