OPINION : Google ’s I / group O event was mostly comprised of AI - dominate presentation , but in amongst the discussions about Google Bard and the future tense of artificial word , the ship’s company dropped a brief update fence in Wear OS 4 that manoeuvre towards a brighter future tense for wearables .
It ’s no secret that Wear OS was a dead political platform for the farseeing sentence , with Google seemingly uninterested in bring anything fresh to the tabular array after Wear OS 2 . as luck would have it , this ended up being a impermanent setback as the troupe introduced the much improved Wear OS 3 at the beginning of 2021 and issue the very firstPixel Watchlate last yr .
Having finally receive around to using the Pixel Watch fair recently , I can definitely say that it ’s an telling piece of kit and easy one of the nice sounding smartwatches I ’ve ever worn . The only point carry it back are its lacklustre shelling animation and the need for a few more popular apps to join the Wear OS ecosystem .
Well , Apple has clearly learned from the error of the past for the fact that it’salready announcedthe existence of Wear OS 4 . For neophyte , the new OS will include some major updates to the functionality of Google ’s own apps , including Gmail , Google Home and Google Calendar .
All of these apps will be given a major functionality boost on Wear oculus sinister 4 , such as Google Home ’s power to see who ’s at your front door and even remotely unlock any bright locks in your ecosystem , right from your wrist . These are smashing updates for world-wide functionality and showing to users why it ’s deserving induct in Google ’s software and hardware , but the surprise announcement of WhatsApp on Wear OS really get my attention .
WhatsApp comes to the watch
Until now , there has been no version of WhatsApp optimise for smartwatches , despite the fact that it ’s one of the world ’s most popular messaging services .
This has always been a infliction when I ’m on the go , as I ’d much rather just respond to a content via my wrist as play off to pulling out my phone . The fact that Wear OS will be get prescribed WhatsApp sustenance now has me interrogate why my Apple Watch is n’t get the same .
As an extra cherry tree on top , Google quietly announced its new ‘ Watch Face Format ’ programme , which make it easier than ever for people to make stylish young vigil faces for Wear OS . I ’ve fall out of beloved with some wearables that have n’t been able-bodied to return exciting and eye - catching sentry face , so the fact that Google ’s opening up the software here just feels like an awful opportunity for users to design the ticker faces they ’ve always want . Even the sampling designs that Google has shown off search tremendous .
Google has pledged to institute even more update to wear down type O throughout the class , and if these are the moves we can foresee then it feels as though Google is finally remove the smartwatch market seriously , and there ’s a undecomposed chance that the Pixel Watch 2 could genuinely go toe - to - toe with the Apple Watch .
