The Wear OS 4 has been official for almost a week now, and you can even go ahead and use the Developer Preview update in an emulator. Now, there are a lot of features surrounding the new update that have been found, including revamped watch face formats, better battery life, as well as Material You design finally making its way to the smartwatches.
Our friends discovered the features over at 9to5Google, and based on the information we have received, you can expect offerings such as animated Tiles and native golf tracking functionality, along with a whole host of native functionality coming to the app.
Google and Samsung are working together to make Wear OS 4 a lot better in terms of functionality
Now, considering how Wear OS 4 is in development in collaboration with Samsung, the first feature that we are going to talk about revolves around Health Services API, which offers data from sensors. This makes it easier for developers to make apps that actually help in tracking health and other metrics. Golf tracking is one of the features that are being added in the new update, where the watch will be able to fetch data such as the span of the golf swing or how many shots have been played. This can be a useful feature for all golf lovers.
In addition to that, there is another feature coming to Wear OS 4, which will allow third-party health-tracking apps to access health data from the sensors in the background. This might not mean much to the average user, but the apps will be able to pick up data even when the smartwatch is not being used.
Moving further, Wear OS 4 will also improve Tiles. App developers will have the chance to go for new animations and transitions, making the Tiles appear better, smoother, and visually pleasing. Google will closely work with various app developers such as Poleton, Spotify, WhatsApp, and more, so you can expect a lot of Tiles coming to the Wear OS.
Last but not least, Google will also introduce native Google Calendar and Gmail apps. These will be launching on Wear OS 4 and hopefully on older versions, too. WhatsApp has already announced its own Wear OS app, which is an excellent offering. Needless to say, the upcoming update does sound like it is going to improve upon the experience, and considering how Samsung and Google are collaborating, we are surely going to get some really nice features.
Wear OS 4 is likely going to debut on the Pixel Watch 2, with the One UI Watch 5.0 debuting on the Galaxy Watch 6. Both smartwatches are scheduled to release later this year, so we will keep you posted as we hear more about what these companies have for us.
About the author: I have been tinkering with Android devices ever since the early days of the HTC Desire. Over time, I have grown a fondness for the ecosystem and now I cannot live without it. Although some might believe that I have sold my soul to Android, but I believe it is not the case. You can find me writing tutorials and posting guides on a number of different smartphones. When I am not writing here, I am wasting myself away in books, journals, or on Steam.
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