This Is What Samsung’s New Wear OS Smartwatch Could Look Like

Many are undoubtedly excited to see what Samsung has to unveil next week at MWC 2021. That's because if you remember, last month at Google I/O 2021, Google announced that they would be collaborating with Samsung to improve their Wear OS platform, some of the super wearable platforms for Wear OS and Tizen by mixing the two together.

That being said, in case you were curious about the fruits of that partnership, the folks at GizNext have teamed up with leakster OnLeaks to create renders of what the Samsung smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch Active 4, might look like, though we have to Must say this is a bit disappointing as it doesn't seem to have strayed too far from the design of the Galaxy Watch Active 2.

This Is What Samsung’s New Wear OS Smartwatch Could Look Like

The main difference, at least based on the renders, will be the lugs of the watch, but other than that, it doesn't look much different. Whether this is a good or bad thing or not depends on your personal preference, and we think the software of the smartwatch is the main thing to focus on.

As we said, a lot of people are excited because Google's announcement of I/O 2021 has left out a lot of details, much less curious to see how big of a change we're talking about. . Anyhow, hopefully we'll have more details next week so check back with us for more updates.

Once again, Google is pushing the reset button for a new wearable OS in conjunction with Samsung's Tizen wearable operating system, tentatively called "Wear".The company is throwing in the towel on Wear OS. It's trying once again, this time with Samsung's Tizen OS to help fill in the gaps that, for whatever reason, Google can't. That's theoretically good news for Android owners interested in a good smartwatch — but one that's detrimental to Google's lackluster efforts in the smartwatch space to date.

Google and Samsung are merging Wear OS and Tizen

Ever since Google first introduced Wear OS (Ne Android Wear), there's never been a really good Android-powered smartwatch. Samsung's Tizen-powered watches have been the best option for years, but they're ultimately Samsung's watches. They still work best with Samsung phones, and while they're good enough with other Android devices, there's a smattering of additional helpful apps that need to be installed in order for them to work. A smooth experience, it is not.

This Is What Samsung’s New Wear OS Smartwatch Could Look Like

It's clear why Google wants the battery life, app support, and performance benefits Samsung has developed over the years; But it's hard to understand why Google didn't manage to create it on its own.

Google is the maker of Android, one of the quintessential software development companies of the modern era, the brains behind the common component for more than three billion smartphones worldwide. Its resources are practically unlimited, and it's made some serious investments in computing smartwatches and wearables over the years: $40 million on some of Fossil's secret wearable technologies in 2019, and $2.1 million to buy Fitbit most recently. Billion. (That's not even counting the rest of Google's hardware team, which includes HTC's smartphone design team and $1.1 billion for the existing Pixel hardware group.)

This Is What Samsung’s New Wear OS Smartwatch Could Look Like

Brent Rose for The Verge

Yet, despite the hardware, software, and engineering prowess, Google has utterly failed to get its smartwatch platform from anything but curiosity. Part of this can be attributed to poor silicon support – Qualcomm's Wear OS-powering Snapdragon chips saw a year-long drought before last year's Snapdragon 4100 was launched, and a Snapdragon 4100 watch has actually surfaced. . Google's software updates for Wear OS over the past year have been small, lackluster features. And there's still no Pixel-esque reference device to show developers the Platonic ideal, though it doesn't exactly make up for lack of trying.

Google reportedly had a Pixel watch at one time, but axed the concept for fear of undermining Google's growing hardware ecosystem and software issues. The company also (wisely) decided not to add its name to LG's diminutive watches in 2017, and the brand has been largely in obscurity since then.

This Is What Samsung’s New Wear OS Smartwatch Could Look Like

Pixel devices occupy a big place in the smartphone world because of what they represent: Google's pure, pure vision for what Android could be, a place for other makers of more popular phones. The same could apply to watches if Google really has any inclination to try.