Wear OS 5 Archives - Gizmochina

Wear OS 5 prepares for UWB and Bluetooth LE Audio, Pixel Watch 3 likely first to feature

Soumyakanti — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 12:11:42 +0000

Google is anticipated to launch its upcoming Pixel Watch 3 series in August, alongside the Pixel 9 series. Numerous details about the watch were revealed earlier this week.

The upcoming watch is expected to feature the long-awaited ultra-wideband (UWB) capability, as evidenced by its recent appearance on the FCC.

Now Mishaal Rahman from Android Authority discovered a hidden UWB toggle in the May Wear OS 5 Developer Preview while digging Wear OS 5. The toggle’s description states that it “helps identify the relative position of nearby devices that have UWB.” This finding confirms that the upcoming Wear OS watches will be able to utilize this feature.

Set for an August release, the Pixel Watch 3 will likely debut this feature. UWB offers superior precision in location tracking, an advantage over GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, especially in small, battery-powered wearables. UWB’s accuracy in determining the distance and direction between devices makes it a valuable addition, already used in item trackers and by car manufacturers.

The Wear OS developer preview also hints at support for Bluetooth LE Audio, first introduced in Android 13 for single-source, single-receiver audio transmission. With Android 15, Google might be enhancing this to support multi-device audio streaming. This means the supported watch could stream audio to multiple Bluetooth LE Audio-compatible headphones simultaneously.

Currently, no smartwatch offers Bluetooth LE Audio support. The Pixel Watch 3 could be the first to include this feature.

Google’s next Pixel Watch is rumored to address user complaints about the previous versions. The Pixel Watch 3 is expected to come in two sizes, 41mm and 45mm, with cellular and WiFi options. The bezels will be slimmer at 4.5mm compared to 5.5mm on the Pixel Watch 2.

The display will also be brighter with a peak brightness of 2000 nits, up from 1000 nits on the previous model. The watch series is rumored to come in multiple colors, including Silver, Black, and Gold cases paired with Hazel, Obsidian, Porcelain, and Rose Quartz bands.

(Via 1,2)

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Wear OS 5 based on Android 14 In Works; Could launch with Galaxy Watch 7

Simranpal Singh — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 14:25:23 +0000

Last year, we saw several new OEMs opting for the Wear OS for their new wearables. The popular Chinese electronics maker, Xiaomi, introduced its maiden Wear OS smartwatch, i.e., Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro with Wear OS 4. Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch 6 featuring Wear OS 4 and later made it available for Pixel smartwatches. Forging ahead, the Korean giant and Google are working on the next iteration – Wear OS 5, based on Android 14. According to a new report, Samsung is diligently working on Wear OS 5 to launch it alongside the upcoming Galaxy Watch 7.

Wear OS 5 Coming Soon

The report by 9to5Google weighs in on the summer release of Wear OS 5 along with Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 7. The new Wear OS iteration will follow a similar update rollout timeline as Wear OS 4. For your information, Wear OS 4 made its debut with the Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic as One UI 5 Watch, and later was made available for the Pixel Watch 2, and then the Pixel Watch. Samsung also made it available for the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic and the Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Pro.

The source reveals that there are multiple references to Wear OS 5 in the unreleased Android 14 build. Samsung is working on the new build to ensure the Exynos 5535 works at its full potential while running Wear OS 5. This move suggests that Samsung’s next-generation smartwatch, expected to be released this summer, will debut Wear OS 5. The Pixel Watch 3 is also anticipated to receive the update in the fall.

However, the details about the features and changes in Wear OS 5 are not yet available. The move to an annual update cycle for wearables would bring it closer to the regular update schedule seen in smartphones, departing from the previous pattern where Wear OS often skipped Android versions.