Your next new Android smartwatch might not suck so badly

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Google is teaming up with Samsung to make Wear OS, its smartwatch platform, not suck. That’s important because the current fragmentation of Android smartwatches means inconsistent user experience between different devices.

For many years now, Samsung has built all of its smartwatches on the Tizen platform. That changes with this new partnership, with the best features of Tizen being folded into Wear OS, so developers and device makers will have a unified platform to work with.

The new Wear OS should bring battery improvements, speedier app performance, and a wider range of apps to use. The “best of Fitbit” is also coming to the platform, the first time Google has really mentioned the wearable brand since completing its acquisition earlier this year.

The promise of speed is a big one, as Android-powered smartwatches and their slow processors are one of the main things users and reviewers mention.

They’re just not anywhere near as powerful as Apple’s self-created chips on the Apple Watch, and the user experience has suffered because of this. The interface is also getting a major redesign, to make things like switching between apps easier, and more home screen customizations.

All of this is to go head-to-head with Apple, whose Apple Watch range accounted for 40-percent of all smartwatch sales in the last quarter of 2020. If Google and Samsung can make the user experience on Wear OS feel as intuitive as Apple’s, the future is looking good for Android smartwatches.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.