Google, Samsung, and Fitbit collaborate to release a new smartwatch Wear OS

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) on Tuesday uncovered it is collaborating with Samsung to release a new smartwatch operating system. The OS, which will still be called WearOS, consolidates Google’s OS with Samsung’s Tizen OS to improve battery life and performance on the organizations’ smartwatches.

Regardless of years in the market Wear OS has failed to capture interest from consumers and OEMs the same. Today Google launched maybe their greatest update to Wear OS since it launched as Android Wear, and they did it in partnership with both Samsung and now Google-owned FitBit.

Wear OS has been neglected for a really long time. Google has been dead in the smartwatch space, and Samsung can’t get a decent app ecosystem along with its smartwatches dependent on Tizen. The two organizations, alongside Fitbit (which was recently procured by Google), are collaborating.

Google says it is building “a unified platform, jointly with Samsung” that will join “the best of Wear OS and Tizen.” The new platform has been quietly renamed “Wear,” dropping the “OS” suffix.

The new OS declared at Google’s I/O developer conference, will highlight an updated look and abilities including turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps, Google Pay, and on-device Google Music functionality.

This declaration was only a bother, with no screenshots of the new OS other than a gander at a few things made with the current Wear OS “Tiles” API. So it’s not satisfactory what we’re arriving. We do have a few quotes, however. Executives from Google, Samsung, and Fitbit seized the stream to discuss their parts in the entirety of this.

Google and Samsung have cooperated to bring the best of Tizen for wearables into WearOS, this has brought about a fast UI, longer battery life, and a smoother client experience. The pair claim up to 30% faster app launch times, unspecified upgrades in battery life, and UI perfection.

The entirety of this is accomplished by the combination of Tizen improvements alongside including more lower power cores in devices. It’s hazy if upgrades might be for new SOC or if updates will make older devices more efficient.

Launching close by the under the hood upgrades Google is claiming a significant redesign to the user experience and UI on Wear OS, these incorporate changes to the navigation within Wear OS as well as improvements to the Tile UI that launched in Wear OS 2.0.

Bringing Samsung on board to assist further form with a trip the WearOS could prove to be a gigantic advantage for Google, as the organization has already put out various generally successful wearables. Samsung’s technology and gadgets are top-notch, with attractive designs and exceptional interfaces like a turnable watch face that permits you to control on-screen features.

Samsung says it is bringing the awesome Tizen (is there a best of Tizen?), however, what we’re interested in—as usual—is the organization’s hardware. Samsung says the next version of Wear will run on “the next Samsung Galaxy Watch,” probably the Galaxy Watch 4.

Samsung will likewise be bringing its Exynos system on a chip along for the ride, which means Wear OS will at long last break free of Qualcomm’s halfhearted wearables support.

Samsung isn’t incredible at rivaling Qualcomm with regards to cell phone SoCs, yet it turns into competent smartwatch SoCs that improve year over year, which is more than Qualcomm has been willing to dedicate to wearables.

With no suitable SoC seller, Wear OS hasn’t got an opportunity to rival the Apple Watch, which gets relatively dramatic hardware enhancements every year. Wear OS has had its very own lot of issues, yet the hardware is the foundation of any gadget, and Wear OS simply hasn’t had a feasible foundation.

It’s difficult to perceive how this doesn’t bring about a Samsung monopoly over Wear OS, however, at least Google will have some sort of SoC merchant focused on the platform.

Joining the organizations’ efforts could prove to be particularly useful in working out a true competitor to Apple’s (AAPL) own Apple Watch. Google’s smartwatch efforts have struggled throughout the long term, despite the way that Google says there are 3 billion active Android devices in the world.

Apple, then, has figured out how to become the world leader in smartwatches. As indicated by Counterpoint Research, the organization controls a 40% market share of the global smartwatch market. The next closest competitor, Samsung, has 10%. So it profits both Google and Samsung to cooperate to attempt to take on the iPhone producer.

Google additionally reported that it’s bringing health tracking and on-wrist celebrations from Fitbit to WearOS. Google finished its $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit in January, and the expansion of the organization’s fitness abilities will be essential for making Google’s watches true competitors for Apple Watch, which has immediately set itself up as a great health tracker.

In December, Apple pushed further into the fitness space by launching its Apple Fitness+ workout programs for the Apple Watch. Fitbit offers comparative features complete with workout routines and health tracking.

Fitness is one of the most important features of any modern smartwatch, and if Google can use Fitbit’s own amazing setup of fitness features, it could become the first big threat to the Apple Watch yet.

Google guarantees that the next version of Wear OS will have “faster performance, longer battery life, and a thriving developer community.” There will be a “whole new consumer experience” for Wear OS, including updates from your “favorite” Google apps. Google Maps, YouTube Music, and Google Pay all got shoutouts.

Fitbit vowed to bring “the best of Fitbit to Wear,” with a predictable nod to health tracking. Fitbit likewise says, “In the future, we’ll be building premium smartwatches based on Wear.” So would the smartwatch out of Google headquarters be branded a “Fitbit Watch” rather than the since a long time ago reputed “Pixel Watch?”

Google says updates will be carried out later this year.