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After years of hints that Google was working by itself smartwatch, the first-ever Pixel Watch has lastly arrived. Powering it’s the platform Google debuted approach again in 2014: Put on OS. First referred to as Android Put on, the smartwatch working system has lived via durations of excessive exercise and of silence; issues received so quiet for a time that it felt as if Put on was on Google’s chopping block.
Final yr, Google renewed everybody’s religion when it confirmed off a brand new model referred to as Put on OS 3, which the corporate codeveloped with Fitbit (which it owns) and Samsung (which sells numerous smartwatches). Solely a handful of smartwatches are operating this new model thus far, together with the Pixel Watch and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch5, however the platform goes via many modifications and it is laborious to maintain monitor of the small print. I sat down (nearly) with Björn Kilburn, Google’s director of product administration for Put on OS, to set the file straight about the place Put on is headed.
What is the Official Identify?
Google’s Android Put on smartwatch working system was renamed “Put on OS by Google” in 2018. Recently, Google has been utilizing a myriad of names: Put on, Put on OS, and Put on OS by Google. So which is it? Formally, it is Put on OS by Google, however Google says the quick kind “Put on OS” can also be right.
New watches are operating the newest model of the software program, referred to as Put on OS 3, and Google has retroactively used the time period “Put on OS 2″ to explain previous-generation smartwatches.
How Dedicated Is Google to Put on OS?
Google’s help for its smartwatch platform has been touch-and-go; Put on OS hasn’t loved the cadence of updates nor the eye Apple provides to WatchOS and the Apple Watch. Google additionally is not shy about shuttering its apps and providers if they do not show common (RIP Stadia). Issues are wanting up for Put on OS recently although, and whereas it is too early to inform whether or not Google will comply with up its first Pixel Watch with a successor subsequent yr, Kilburn assures me that Put on OS is essential to Google.
“We’re completely dedicated to the house and, hopefully, the proof is there,” Kilburn says. “Should you have a look at the variety of apps which were refreshed within the final yr and a half, then the Pixel workforce constructing the first-party watch, and our collaboration with Samsung—which is super-positive—I feel these are all sturdy indicators that there is numerous dedication past simply the Put on workforce.”
How Usually Will Put on OS Be Up to date?
Google says you possibly can anticipate a brand new model of Put on OS yearly, simply as cellphone house owners can anticipate a brand new model of Android yearly. At the least, that is the hope.
“Our purpose is, from a platform perspective, for us to launch a brand new model of Put on usually yearly in a similar way to cell, partly as a result of we have to help cell,” Kilburn says. “If new functionalities added in Android are important for watches and hearables, then we have to discover a solution to get it into the watch.” That stated, there’ll nonetheless be quarterly Put on updates to convey ”new experiences” all year long.
Nonetheless, Kilburn notes that, in contrast to with Put on OS 2 smartwatches, watch producers are answerable for over-the-air updates in Put on OS 3. You may want to start out checking a producer’s software program replace coverage similar to you’d with an Android cellphone. For instance, the brand new Google Pixel Watch will get three years of software program updates, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 will get 4 years of updates. It is value declaring that Apple supported the Apple Watch Collection 3 for 4 years.
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