Google announced that Wear OS 3 features will be available on wearable devices running Wear OS 2. These include an improved messenger, third-party widgets, and expanded support for Google Pay, among other things. According to the company, the old OS will be updated in the coming weeks.
The latest Wear OS 3 software platform was developed in collaboration with Samsung. At the Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung has demonstrated new watch models based on this OS. We are talking about the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic.
WearOS 3
Wear OS 3 has undergone numerous cosmetic and functional changes over the previous generation; including new YouTube Music app, updated Google Maps, new messaging interface; and support for third-party widgets, as well as broader support for Google Pay.
At the same time, Google announced that only watches based on the new Snapdragon Wear 4100 chipset, such as the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 and TicWatch E3 models, will be fully upgraded to the new operating system. For example, owners of watches based on Snapdragon 3100 will be left without the full version.
Luckily for owners of Wear OS 2 watches; Google has decided to add at least a few new features to it. For example, as soon as the update reaches users' devices; the built-in messenger will allow you to reply to messages directly from your watch. Third-party widgets, for example, allow you to check information such as the weather forecast or start a timer with a swipe of the screen.
Finally, the Google Pay app will receive an update, and service support will be added in many countries and regions - Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, parts of China, Ireland, New Zealand. Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden, Taiwan, China, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the YouTube music application and "turn-by-turn" navigation in Google maps have been added.
Wear OS 3.0 gets some old smartwatches
Qualcomm previously confirmed that the new version of Wear OS 3 developed by Google and Samsung; will be able to work on smartwatches with Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset.
They limited themselves to stating that they are working with Google to bring Wear OS 3.0 to a range of Snapdragon platforms. “Snapdragon Wear 3100, 4100 Plus and 4100 platforms can support Wear OS 3.0; but we are not currently discussing any details, ”said a Qualcomm spokesman.
In theory, this news is upbeat and leaves hope that companies will be able to update their existing smartwatches to a new version of Wear. But we already know for sure that Fossil will not update its old models of wearables to Wear OS 3.0. The release of the update is also not part of Samsung's plans.
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