Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “What’s next for Android smartwatches: the clock is ticking”.
Back in April, we made a video about how there just aren’t very many good smartwatches for Android users.. But since then a whole lot has happened.. There’S a new chip coming out for Wear OS, smartwatches and there’s a new version of Wear OS, it’s 2.0 and it’s coming out to smartwatches right now and it has a whole new interface. But oh wait now.
It says it’s Wear OS 2.1. They keep changing it. On me., I dunno whatever the important thing is it’s the new version of Wear OS.. Here’S a question has anything really changed: ( upbeat, music, ) Wear OS, as you know, works with both iPhones and Android phones.. The truth is, if you have an iPhone and you want a smartwatch your best option. It really is the new Apple Watch., It’s really great., But if you have an Android phone, I still think you’re. Basically, looking at those same three options, I talked about in the last video. And just to review. That is a Wear OS smartwatch.
It is a third-party smartwatch with a screen or a hybrid smartwatch which doesn’t have a screen.. I think right now, the best third-party smartwatch is the Galaxy Watch, which is nice, but I kind of don’t like it. If you’re not using a Samsung phone ,’cause, there’s a bunch of extra software and the hybrid smartwatches they’re, fine they’re still doing their thing..
But the real question is what’s going on now with Wear OS And actually there’s quite a lot.. Qualcomm has announced a new processor for Wear OS, it’s called the Snapdragon 3100 and before you get too excited about it, the main thing that you should know about it is that it has a little co-processor that runs the thing in ambient mode and also it can Detect all the sensors. And it allows it to run in low power for a longer time, but the main processor isn’t any faster., So it still feels basically the same when you use it.
(, energetic music ), That’s not necessarily a problem. Assuming that Wear OS has been updated to work better on like the existing chips., So I’ve been using Wear OS for the last week or so, and you know what It’s been updated to work better.. But the other thing about this new processor is, we haven’t seen any watches using it yet. That may seem confusing ,’cause.
You may have seen that a bunch of smartwatches just got announced at that tech show in Berlin called IFA., But you should know that all those watches still have the old processor. And here’s one of them right. Here., It’s the Fossil Q, Explorist HR, Gen 4. And the HR stands for heart rate’cause. It can read your heart rate: now., They cost 255 bucks.
The other new thing that it has is NFC, so you can use it with Google Pay., And you know honestly, it’s pretty nice.. It’S got a really big screen, it’s you know kinda thick, but it’s not too thick.. I think it looks pretty good and I do kinda like it., But I dunno, if I like it to the tune of 255 dollars for a smartwatch with an old processor kinda like it.
You know what I mean Also honestly, the battery life. It’S not that great. ( dreamy electronic music ) At a high level. The biggest change is that Google seems to have figured out what a smartwatch is for.. Finally, or maybe again, I dunno.
Google seems to have a really clear idea.. If you take a look at. What’S happening here, you begin to see something really important..
So let’s look at the new gestures on Wear OS.. So when you swipe down from the top, you get a new quick setting screen and it’s just a lot more coherent that before. There’s a whole lot of new buttons here. There’S a Google Pay button.
So if you have NFC, you can just turn on Google Pay really quickly.. There’S a button to find your phone right. Away.
Do not disturb airplane mode. It’S a much nicer, quick settings interface.! Now, if you swipe up, you get the new notifications interface and it is way better than the last version of Wear OS., Because everything is on a single scrollable sheet. You can still expand them, you can still see stuff grouped and you can wipe stuff away.
That gets smeared on your phone. Good job Way, better.. Thank you for making it the way it was. Now from the home screen. If you swipe right, if you swipe right Yes. Well, if you swipe left to go to the right., Swiping is hard. I’D be really bad at Tinder.
By the way, it’s a good thing, I’m old. Anyway, you get to the new version of Google Fit which just got updated. It’S got two new scores and Google really simplified it and made it easier to understand so good job. There Google. And then, when you swipe right, you get to the left hand screen, which is the Google Feed..
This is the place where you can see. You know ambient information, you’re gon na get the weather you’re gon na get. What Google thinks is you know the next thing in your calendar or whatever. This, where they can be a little more experimental.
Put it all together, look at all the stuff in the new gestures. What do you really see? Well, here’s what I see. Number one. I see an operating system that is maybe slightly faster and a little bit more responsive than it was before..
Now this could just be new watch syndrome. Every time you get a new gadget, you just think it’s faster, but I dunno honestly. I do think Google has optimized things just a little bit. Number two.
Finally, we see a coherent focus on the two things that people most want out of a smartwatch fitness and notifications.. Both of those things are way better now and they’re easy to get to from the home screen. Or the watch face anyway. The features are more purposeful now and they’re also more useful, especially Google Fit.. Now, Google isn’t trying to compete at every level with the Apple Watch. Google Fit is maybe just a little bit more basic than the health stuff on the Apple Watch., But you know what it works and I do think it’s enough for a lot of people. And then the third thing that we see here – and this might be the Most important one there is room to grow. And especially in the Google Feed..
Is it great yet No.? Maybe it will be someday? That’S always how we feel about the Google feed, but it is a place where Google can experiment with new features and ideas without mucking around with the core functions of the smartwatch.. Add those three things up and I what I think we’re really looking at here is a reset. Wear. Os is now simpler and it’s easier to understand and that’s more than I’ve been able to say about it for kind of a long time..
So I wan na go back to that very very first question. Has anything changed. Well, you know what let’s look at what I said in the last video and see if it still holds up now.
( gentle, electronic music ). When you use an Android phone and you wan na wear a smartwatch, your choices are actually kind of grim. Yeah.
You know what grim is mean, but it’s not wrong.. The problem with Wear OS is Google hasn’t done right by its users. With this platform., The new update actually shows Google listening to its user and I’m really happy about it.. The third-party apps are a like.
Not that great, if you can find them at all and digging through the piles and piles of watch, faces to find the one good one that you like. Just takes. Forever. Google recently put like this quality filter on the app store for Wear OS, so that really low quality junky stuff will go away.. So hopefully that will make it easier to find the good watch faces and what few good apps there actually are.. I kinda wan na go back to Wear OS, which seems like a really bad choice.
Yeah. I actually kind of like it, especially with this new interface.. It’S great. As long as you know, you don’t need to have your watch work after 10:00 p.m. because the battery dies.
( claps ), Even though it might be the right choice for me. I don’t think I can recommend a Wear OS watch to really anybody else. Still true, but that might not be the case forever.
And let me explain: why. (, energetic electronic music ) Wear OS is in a much better place now than it was six months ago And that comes down to Google solving the same problem that Apple solved with its watch., Knowing what a smartwatch is for. Time, fitness notifications. Everything else is stuff.
You build on top of that foundation. And foundations should be simple and sturdy. And Wear OS It finally is., But that doesn’t mean that now is a great time to buy a Wear OS smartwatch sorry.. It’S worth waiting to see what these new Qualcomm processors do on new smartwatches and whether it makes a big difference.
And honestly, it’s worth waiting to see software-wise what Google can build on top of this new foundation., Hey everybody. Thank you so much for watching.. You know we made this video because so many of you were asking for an update to our last smartwatch video and I dunno. If you like this kind of video, let me know in the comments., Maybe we’ll do it again.
Sometime.! Lastly, have you ever listened to our podcast, The Vergecast? I co-host it with Nilay, Patel and Paul Miller.. It’S fun. You should give it a listen. .