Wear OS
I’ve been wondering about the future of Wear OS in light of Google closing the acquisition of Fitbit and that there are so few watches with the new Qualcomm 4100 processor. I suspect Google has drastically slowed development on Wear OS and that has forced companies to hold back launching watches with the 4100 because it may be the only new thing about them in the next year. If I am right that may mean we won’t see many watches with the latest processor until the fall.
Personally, the Fossil Sport that I currently wear has all the “features” I need but performance is not exactly reliable. I’ve begun to think one of the latest Fitbits might be good. I really wish Apple would do with Apple Watch what they did with the iPod and make it work with Android, which I think would decisively the end Wear OS, but Apple appears committed to the halo Watch gives to iPhone.
Google’s acquisition of Fitbit is complete, will we now see something new relating to Wear OS?
I really don’t think anyone should buy the Wear OS watches just announced by Fossil because they don’t have the Qualcomm 4100 chip. You are being asked to pay a lot of money for a watch that does not have the best battery life and is slower that what watches with the 4100 chip will provide. I really don’t understand why none of the new watches have the 4100 chip.
I am really surprised that there haven’t been more Wear OS watches with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4100 CPU announced for the Christmas buying season. Wondering what that might mean for Wear OS?
I am keeping an eye on the latest Wear OS watch announcements Fossil announced their new Gen 5E line, which I recommend people do not buy. The Gen 5E still uses the Qualcomm 3100 chip while there is a newer and better chip, the Qualcomm 4100 now available. I am waiting for a watch running the Qualcomm 4100 before I replace my Fossil Sport.
Dear Google, You do a wonderful job of making it easy to move from one Android phone to another but moving a Wear OS watch along with that phone is horrible. Please bring back the ability to install and manage apps from the phone. I should not have to factory reset and reinstall all watch apps just to move to another phone.
I am one of the many people who used and really liked the DarkSky weather app on Android. While the Android app is great, the main reason why I bought the premium subscription was for the Wear OS app. Now that Apple bought DarkSky and shutdown the Android app, I’ve lost the DarkSky app and complications on my watch.
I switched to the AccuWeather app on my smartphone, but while it does have a Wear OS component, it is really bad in comparison to DarkSky and doesn’t have complications. I am hoping AccuWeather beefs up the Wear OS app over time. The whole DarkSky aquisition by Apple was really disappointing.
I am very disappointed to learn that Apple has acquired Dark Sky and decided to discontinue it’s Android application. I’ve been a happy user of Dark Sky on my Android smartphone and Wear OS watch for several years, and find it to be the best weather app on Android. I I guess I will be seeking a replacement.
Suunto 7 promises a Wear OS sports smartwatch with 12-hour battery life - SlashGear
Nice to see an old Microsoft SPOT watch vendor still in the game.
Google’s purchase of smartwatch intellectual property from Fossil is interesting. I don’t know if it is a harbinger of a Google watch but I find the statement that Google did the deal so that the IP will be available to all brands, interesting. If nothing else it affirms Google’s commitment to Wear OS.