Although Google’s I/O 2024 developer conference was centered almost exclusively on AI-related announcements and demonstrations, the search giant did (discreetly) unveil a few other cool features coming to Android phones soon and even an entirely new Wear OS version.
All about battery life!
The Pixel Watch 2 (pictured here) should last significantly longer between charges on Wear OS 5.
That’s definitely a noble and important goal given that most smartwatch users (regardless of their “ecosystem”) have been frustrated with the running times between charges of their wearable devices since… these products have been created essentially.
Although they’re not mentioned by name (or by anything else), Google and Samsung’s next-gen smartwatches are likely to become the first products to run Wear OS 5… at some point by the end of the year. The platform’s battery life optimizations, of course, should then spread to current and previous-gen Pixel Watches and Galaxy Watches, as well as other devices from a few other brands via over-the-air updates.
A few other features are also (finally) coming to Wear OS this year
Of course, Google and its partners still have a long way to go before they can challenge Apple in both mainstream popularity and, well, ease of use and functionality. To highlight that latter point, Wear OS 5 is also gearing up to support “more data types like ground contact time, stride length, and vertical oscillation” in your go-to fitness apps.
The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic (pictured here) will gain a few valuable fitness tracking tools with Wear OS 5.
If those capabilities happen to sound familiar, that’s probably because Apple Watches and even Garmin timepieces can already monitor them all… and more such stats designed to improve your running and general health.
