wear os
This latest release, one of many announcements from the Google I/O 2024 developer conference, focuses on improved battery life and other performance improvements, like more efficient workout tracking.
OnePlus’ Watch 2 gets 100 hours of battery thanks to a pair of chips and Wear OS tweaks
OnePlus’ first smartwatch was a lot of things. Unfortunately, particularly good or memorable weren’t among them. If you’re going to enter a category as established as the smartwatch, you’re going…
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Google’s Pixel Watch 2 offers solid upgrades
There are a couple of parallels to be drawn between the Pixel 8 and Pixel Watch 2. One is obvious, the other a bit more subtle. The first is the addition of temperature sensors — though I would argue that the addition makes a lot more sense on a wearable than a handset. The second…
The spinning bezel is the best thing about Samsung Watches. And yet, every few generations, the company drops the hardware feature, customers push back and then it magically returns. If…
WhatsApp has finally launched its standalone app for smartwatches running Google’s Wear OS, after much anticipation and months-long beta testing. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday announced the launch of…
At its I/O developer conference today, Google announced a new way for developers to build Wear OS watch faces, along with overall updates to the Android Wear platform, including Wear…
Android smartwatches are getting Spotify’s AI DJ, WhatsApp and updated Google apps
Google is updating Wear OS to bring new features, apps and app experiences to its smartwatch OS platform, the company announced today at its Google I/O developer conference. The features,…
Google previews Wear OS 4 with better battery life, third-party watch face support
At Google’s I/O developer conference today, the company previewed the next version of its smartwatch operating system, Wear OS 4. The new release promises to bring improved battery life and…
Google said that WhatsApp is working on a native WearOS app at its developer conference Google I/O. Earlier this week, WhatsApp launched a beta version of its app compatible with…
Android’s December update features include accessible reading mode and sharable car keys
Google is rolling out its Android feature updates for December across phones, watches and Google TV. These updates include an accessible reader mode, a new YouTube Search widget, shareable digital…
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Google’s Pixel Watch delivers nice hardware, but fails to answer the ‘why’
It took some evasive maneuvering to get us here — the building out of a small-scale hardware ecosystem, coupled with a couple big-ticket acquisitions and a partnership with one of its largest potential competitors. But suddenly, Google emerging as competitive in the smartwatch space doesn’t seem an altogether outlandish proposition. One can make a compelling…
The standard disclaimer here: Look for a full review in the not-too-distant future. But now, let’s get a better look at the Pixel Watch in real life, through some quick…
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Google gets serious about wearables with the Pixel Watch
2021 was the Pixel’s year. The Pixel 6 saw Google finally getting its act together and introducing a flagship that could rival the likes of Samsung and Apple. But while the line is getting a solid upgrade this year with the Pixel 7, it was inevitable that the handset was going to have play second…
Google upgrades its Apple AirDrop competitor ‘Nearby Share’ and five other Android updates
Google introduced Thursday a bevy of new features for Android devices, including an upgrade to a self-share option that works like rival Apple’s AirDrop and lets users transfer files across…
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Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 review
We’ve had a Samsung review blitz over the past two weeks, covering all the products the company announced at its recent Unpacked event. In my write-up of the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, I noted how understated the product line was, in contrast to its flash, bombastic foldables. The Galaxy Watch line, meanwhile, exists somewhere between…
Samsung ditches the physical bezel, picks up a Pro Model for the Galaxy Watch 5
Samsung giveth and Samsung taketh away. The latest additions to the Galaxy Watch line present a bit of both. The headline on each side of that equation is the addition…
The days of the Galaxy Note Unpacked events are sadly gone, but Samsung’s foldables are more than happy to fill a phablet-sized hole in the company’s annual release schedule. Over…
Google Assistant arrives on Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 (for real, this time)
Google Assistant’s arrival on the Galaxy Watch 4 has been like a look time coming, for a variety of reasons. First, Samsung’s attempt at its own in-house assistant, Bixby, was…
YouTube Music for Wear OS now lets users stream content over Wi-Fi and LTE
Google announced today that the YouTube Music app on Wear OS is rolling out the ability for users to stream music over LTE or WiFi. The new feature will let…
Google’s Android Studio IDE gets live edits to speed up development cycles
It’s Google I/O today and as is tradition, the company is using the event to introduce the latest releases of its Android Studio development environment. Launching today are a new…
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Google’s Pixel Watch may finally be on its way
Everything old is new again. Someone leaves a prototype in a bar, prototype makes its way into some blogger’s hands, chaos ensues. It’s hard to imagine another device coming along soon that’s shrouded in the same layer of security as the iPhone 4. Both gadgets and tech journalism have evolved since those halcyon days, but…
Samsung, Google expand Wear OS partnership with the arrival of Assistant and Play apps
It’s been a little under a year since Google and Samsung announced a joint wearables effort aimed at taking on Apple’s utter dominance of the category. It’s been clear from…
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Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic: A well-rounded smartwatch
For smartwatches, it’s Apple against the world. Per recent numbers from CounterPoint, the Apple Watch commanded more than one-third of global shipments in Q1. Samsung/Tizen’s own market share is a distant — but respectable — second place, with 8%. With Google’s Wear OS at fifth place at just under 4%, it’s easy to see both…
Samsung’s watches have long been something of an anomaly. While the company embraced Wear OS (then Android Wear) in its earliest days with the massive Gear Live, the company quickly…
Samsung and Google preview wearable platform ahead of next Galaxy Watch launch
Samsung’s Mobile World Congress presser was, once again, all about wearables. The big news at this evening’s (or afternoon’s, timezone dependent) event was our best look yet at a redesigned…
Google launches the first beta of Android Studio Arctic Fox
At its I/O developer conference, Google today announced the first beta of the next version of its Android Studio IDE, Arctic Fox. For the most part, the idea here is…
After closing Fitbit acquisition, Google is going big with Wear OS
For years, Wear OS has been, at best, something of a dark horse among Google operating systems. It’s certainly not for lack of partnership or investment, but for whatever reason,…
With a long-standing history of working together on the mobile side, it’s always been a bit of a surprise that Samsung hasn’t had much patience for Google’s wearables play. The…
The Wear OS fall update promises better performance, simplified pairing and more
Google today announced a few new features for Wear OS we can expect from the next over-the-air update, which is slated to arrive this fall. The focus here, Google says,…
Behold, the Opple Watch. Many have borrowed heavily from Apple’s wearable, but few, if any, have done so as brazenly as Oppo. Sure Fitbit received some guff for the squircle…
