Smartwatches have become an increasingly popular device, not only because they are a great complement to your mobile phone, but also because they can be used independently to access our favorite apps. In the case of the Android ecosystem, the Wear OS operating system has evolved in recent years to allow us to do more and more things, and by 2024 Google is among its priorities more efficient watches and in more sizes.
The company has already announced Port OS 5the new version of its wearable operating system based on Android 14. Google revealed its first details and information for developers during the second day of Google I/O 2024, including some interesting figures on the growth of Wear OS on the market.
Google wants to solve the biggest drawback of any smart watch: its autonomy
Google assures that Wear OS saw 40% user growth in 2023, notably thanks to watches from brands like Samsung and Google itself. In addition, the arrival of models from even more brands such as OnePlus, OPPO and Xiaomi stands out, which will give rise to a greater variety of Wear OS smartwatches on the market.
As for Wear OS 5, the priorities announced so far are: more battery and a wider variety of sizes available. In communications aimed at developers, the company detailed some changes to the new system to allow greater autonomy, as it is even more efficient in managing background tasks.
Because autonomy continues to be a subject that worries many smart watch users. Even though it’s common today to find Wear OS watches with battery life between 2 and 4 days, Google is still looking for ways to extend battery life. To do this, Google offers a series of tools for developers that allow you to extend autonomy.
In the case of Wear OS 5, the system promises to be much more efficient, especially when carrying out physical activities. For example, when running a marathon, Google ensures that tracking and use of sensors during physical activity consumes 20% less power in Wear OS 5 than in Wear OS 4a significant improvement if we take into account all the activity and health recordings that the smart watch makes when we exercise.
With Wear OS 5, Google is also looking for a Better compatibility with screens of different sizes, both larger and smaller, and to this end they have created new guides and tools for developers so that they can adapt their interfaces to screens of all types. The company says it has seen “a greater variety of round screen sizes and resolutions, providing more options for users.”
As for spheres or dials, Wear OS 5 includes new complications such as “progress towards the goal“, which allows the user to dynamically see how they are achieving their goals on the watch face, as well as new tools to provide more weather details on the watch faces and other tools to allow developers to create a wider variety of watch faces.
Finally, the company also announced new features to make the registration process easier. bring your apps to watches. These tools allowed us to see the arrival of full WhatsApp and Gmail apps on smartwatches with Wear OS last year, so we hope to see even more apps debut on this system in the future. Android Health Connect will also allow the user to offer applications access to their entire health data history, not just the last 30 days.
This year, unlike the previous one, the presentation of Wear OS 5 did not include radical changes in the interface, but rather improvements to the experience we already know in the Google smartwatch system. It will be developers who take advantage of these tools to create new applications and experiences for users. However, the fact that Wear OS 5 offers more efficient power consumption is great news for end consumers. Of course, Wear OS 5 doesn’t have a release date, at least for now.
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