Wear OS 4 is now official on the new Samsung watches, ahead of the Pixel Watch for now
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For Google Pixel Watch users, Wear OS 3.5 can be hit or miss when it comes to keeping things in sync with your phone. Some of the pain points of Wear OS have been shown to be addressed in the next iteration of the OS, Wear OS 4. However, it appears that Google is not prioritizing their own smartwatch getting this update in favor of Samsung's newly unveiled Galaxy Watch 6.
One of the biggest annoyances to being a smartphone enthusiast, and running a Wear OS watch at the same time, is the hurdles one must jump through to set up a watch with a new device anytime we switch. The version of Wear OS running on the Pixel Watch right now, for example, will not allow you to simply unpair your watch from an old device and easily pair it with a new device. Instead, you have to go through the process of completely resetting your watch in order to unpair it, and going through the setup process again on your new phone as if your watch is brand new.
This is, of course, terribly inconvenient if you've already spent the time to set up your watch faces and tweaked your settings just the way you want them, as this isn't backed up anywhere or can be restored. Moreover, when a Pixel Watch is reset, not all watch faces and features are initially available until you update system apps via the Play Store on the watch itself. Needless to say, this isn't ideal.
This is why Pixel Watch users have been so looking forward to Wear OS 4, as it promises to solve the aforementioned backup and restore issue as well as introduce other features such as Dynamic Theming, improved battery life, and a new watch face format that will be easier for developers to adopt. This was all discovered via a teardown of the OS through the Android Studio emulator.
Additionally, leaked info discovered by 9to5Google revealed that Google may have been readying a beta program for the Pixel Watch and Wear OS 4, adding to the excitement for Pixel Watch users that have been patiently waiting for a solution. However, what we got — and I say we because I am one of those users — was the realization that Google's own watch won't be the first to enjoy the new OS.
That's right. As reported by Android Authority, Wear OS 4 will debut with the newly announced Samsung Galaxy Watch series first instead of the Pixel Watch. This is, of course, going by the product announcement and the specs that were revealed.
Source - Samsung
However, since Google has been quiet regarding details on Wear OS 4 on the Pixel Watch, it could be possible that an update would be pushed before the new Samsung Galaxy Watches ship. Considering the stable launch of Android 14 is likely to happen in August as well, it is likely that Wear OS will release in tandem.
So here we are once again facing the possibility of becoming as second class citizens in our own ecosystem. Let's hope that this isn't the case and Wear OS 4 launches for the Pixel Watch on a reasonable date that isn't far off from the release of the new Samsung watches. In the meantime, we just have to wait and see, and if you are curious about Wear OS 4 right now and don't want to wait to see what happens with the Pixel Watch, you can always try a Samsung to try out the new experience.
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