Put on OS Weekly
My 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.
The One UI Watch 8 beta arrives later this month with thrilling well being, sleep, health, and dietary instruments. Sadly, solely the Galaxy Watch 5 or later can run it. Will the Galaxy Watch 4 obtain the secure model finally, or is it caught with Put on OS 5? The reply to that query might be an necessary one for Put on OS as a complete.
Samsung has promised “4 years of main updates” in press releases for the reason that Galaxy Watch 4 launched again in summer season 2021 with Put on OS 3. After updates to Put on OS 3.5, 4, and 5 over the past three years, we naturally assumed that Put on OS 6 could be its fourth replace (and final hurrah).
However final yr, the Galaxy Watch 4 took till December 2024 to get One UI 6 Watch. This December would fall exterior the Galaxy Watch 4’s four-year window.
Google, in the meantime, guarantees “no less than three years” of updates for its Pixel Watches, “from when the machine first grew to become out there on the Google Retailer,” which takes the 2022 Pixel Watch to October 2025.
Google is speedier than Samsung at delivering model updates to last-gen fashions, so Put on OS 6 in October may be very doable. However Google did not promise years of “main” updates like Samsung did. It might run out the clock with Watch 1 safety updates.
We will solely extrapolate a lot from a single Samsung beta software program announcement. However later this yr, the paradox might be cleared up and we’ll know precisely how lengthy Put on OS watches keep on the reducing fringe of software program tips. And whether or not they get two, three, or 4 OS updates, we’ll must resolve if that is sufficient.
Do Put on OS watches have to stay as much as Apple Watches for longevity?
Later this yr, the 2020 Apple Watch Sequence 6 will get watchOS 26. That ought to be the ultimate main replace, although Apple could supply the occasional main safety patch. So how ought to 2021 Galaxy Watch 4 or 2022 Pixel Watch patrons really feel?
Apple’s unstated five-year dedication to watches is uncommon. Garmin watches are recognized for his or her longevity, however new options often taper off after one or two years — and a few health watches are caught with the options marketed at launch.
As with its telephones, Apple produces its watch silicon, making it simpler to design options to work throughout generations as a result of it controls the structure. However since Samsung makes its personal Exynos chips for Galaxy Watches, you’d assume they’d get the identical advantages.
Contemplating you should purchase a Galaxy A16 5G for $100 lower than a Galaxy Watch 7 and get six years of OS updates, it isn’t a matter of watches being too low cost to deserve help.
Even an inexpensive cellphone may have 3–4X the RAM and three or 4 extra ARM Cortex cores than your typical smartwatch SoC. Samsung has extra headroom and higher thermal options with the A16 than a Galaxy Watch optimized for max battery life. And any new Put on OS function added might imbalance the complete system.
Simply up to now yr, we have seen how Google needed to roll again Put on OS 5 after which repair main bugs with Put on OS 5.1. Google needs to refresh its watches with new options at a quarterly cadence, however has bother executing.
Perhaps as soon as Qualcomm delivers its new Snapdragon Put on chip or Pixel Watches change to RISC-V, they will have the capability to last more. Plus, reducing off the Pixel Watch’s 2018 Exynos 9110 chip frees Google to get extra bold with Put on OS 6, making new patrons happier however leaving unique clients within the lurch.
Do you care how lengthy your Put on OS watch lasts?
There is a full spectrum of Put on OS watches by way of software program help. Mobvoi watches are nonetheless on Put on OS 4 and lack Google Assistant; OnePlus guarantees two OS updates and three years of safety, however takes a yr longer than Google to ship to last-gen watches; after which there’s Google and Samsung main the cost.
Frankly, any smartwatch from 2022 or earlier may have vital downgrades from present fashions by way of show high quality, well being sensors, and efficiency velocity. So ought to clients be anticipated to improve in order that Samsung and Google can evolve previous outdated tech, or ought to they count on the suitable to get new options for 4 years?
As somebody who often will get the most recent watch tech yearly, I am spoiled with instantaneous entry to new options, and due to this fact count on them. So I am curious how a lot you (the reader) care about these updates.
Would you be upset in case your Galaxy Watch 4 could not entry Vascular Load, Operating Coach, Antioxidant Index, and different instruments from One UI 8 Watch? Or in case your Pixel Watch 1 did not get Materials 3 Expressive, third-party watch face apps, dynamic theming, and battery optimizations from Put on OS 6?
Or are you okay with the expectation that you’re going to have to improve to a brand new watch each 2–3 years for main UI upgrades or Gemini?
