Google has announced the next iteration of its smartwatch OS, Wear OS 5 based on Android 14. With the announcement, the developer preview of Wear OS 5 also goes live to developers and interested users. As per new features, we can say that Google’s main focus will be to cut down battery consumption with this new update.
The Wear OS 5 may come to Pixel and Galaxy watches before pending Wear OS smartwatches receive Wear OS 4. This is not surprising since majority of the smartwatch market is owned by Samsung and Google in the Android category. Many other active brands are joining but they are still in the first generation.
Google shares that Wear OS 5 will be more battery efficient than Wear OS 4, giving an example where running a marathon will consume up to 20% less power in Wear OS 5 than on Wear OS 4.
Google also talked about the new iteration of Watch Face Format that will help developers create Watch Faces that uses less battery. The new iteration of Watch Face Format also brings new features like flavors, goal progress, weighted elements complications, Weather data source, and more.
Other improvements include visual improvements (stable) in Jetpack Compose for Wear OS, a new sensor panel for easier health service testing, and a few more.
Battery life is the major challenge with smartwatches, because they are loaded with features that are continuously running and are also useful. Currently, the average battery life of a smartwatch is less than a day in my experience.
You could get a little more than a day but for that you have to turn off some features or go for Pro or Ultra models that cost more. So improvement in the battery department is much appreciated.
As you can see, there is no mention of new features for end users, as expected since this is the first developer preview meant for developer use. But soon with the Public beta build, Google will reveal new features of Wear OS 5. For now, you can say that Wear OS 5 will be more battery efficient.
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