INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Google's Wear OS is the new name for Android Wear, so if you were expecting to see Android Wear 3.0, please reset your smartwatch software
expectations.Google's official reasoning for the name change is to prepare for the diverse future of smartwatches
There are more than 40 Wear OS watches today that launched with Android Wear software, but many have already been given the new name and
New features, however, are the bigger story, and we fully expect whatever Google had planned for Android Wear 3.0 is in fact coming in a
Wear OS update later in 2018.Our first glimpse may be at Google IO 2018 today
We're sifting through Wear OS rumors and providing you with details of what we hope Google has planned for the future of its wrist-worn
wearable software.Cut to the chaseWhat is it Google's new name for it's smartwatch operating systemWhen is it out Rolling out to newer
watches nowHow much will it cost It'll be free of chargeWear OS name changeWhy the new name Google's official announcement on March 15, 2018
pointed to the fact that one in three Wear OS users owns an iPhone
our watches."Simply put, even if you own an iPhone X, you shouldn't be turned off from buying into the Wear OS ecosystem and sent into the
arms (wrists) of the Apple Watch 3.Wear OS release dateWear OS smartwatches are due for an update, way more than Google changing the name
weeks," said Google in March and that has been the case for most modern Android Wear watches
We're thinking that's just the start though.Well, it's been "a few weeks." It's time, right Google will likely save the true, feature-driven
Wear OS details for Google IO 2018 today, May 8.A significant Wear OS update is overdue
Android Wear launched in June 2014 after being announced in May of that year
It did see a sizable Android Wear 1.1 update roughly a year later in March 2015, but then Google stuck to minor tweaks between then and the
jump to Android Wear 2.0 in February 2017.What watches are getting Wear OSGoogle has provided a list of devices that are currently being
updated with the new Wear OS branding.Whether all of the watches below will get the new features when the next update comes around remains
to be seen, but we have high hopes for most on this list considering each is getting the Wear OS branding.Wear OS update news and
keeping the details under wraps
Hopefully that means there are some big new features the company doesn't want us to hear about yet.What we want to seeWe might not know
anything about Wear OS yet, but we know what we hope Google is working on
The following seven things top our list.1
More appsAndroid Wear didn't have the kind of app problem that plagued Windows Phone, but it could definitely use a wider selection in the
smartwatch are never likely to reach Apple Watch-level popularity
Better efficiencyTwo problems that plague many Android Wear devices are weak battery life and middling performance
Faster chipsets and bigger batteries (if manufacturers can find a way to squeeze them in) are the most obvious solutions to that, but Google
could probably help at a software level.If it can make Wear OS more lightweight and efficient than previous versions then we might be able
to get noticeable speed and life boosts on existing hardware.3
Greater support for iOSAndroid Wear and the forthcoming Wear OS update now work reasonably well with iOS, but the experience is still more
iOS as it is with Android.4
A smoother roll outOne of the downsides of Android on phones is that new versions of the operating system often take a long time to arrive
on handsets, if they arrive at all
Wear.Arguably it would be less useful on a watch, but there are certainly times when it would be handy to be able to cast music from our
wearables to a Chromecast Audio.7
