Samsung’s switch to Google’s Wear operating system would be a huge mistake

Rumors that Samsung can potentially ditch Tizen, its proprietary operating system for wearable devices, for Google’s Wear operating system, has recently been stolen. It’s a confusing idea, considering that Samsung smartwatches are the best Android compatible smartwatches right now, and Wear OS is a stinky mess.

Concrete example: 9 to 5Google indicates that the expressions “OK Google” or “Hey Google” to trigger Google Assistant on Wear OS watches has been broken for months. Google also confirmed to The Verge that he was aware of this bug, which has plagued users since at least November 2020, and is working on a fix. While you can still use the Assistant by long pressing the buttons (which is actually my preferred method of activating the Assistant on Wear OS), this indicates that Google has known about the issue for so long and hasn’t still not solved the problem.

Wear OS has long been one of Google’s most overlooked projects, but it’s a new low. The main reason for choosing a Wear OS watch over a Fitbit or Samsung smartwatch is native integration with Google Assistant and Google Pay. If you don’t care about fixing one of your wearable platform’s biggest selling points quickly, then I’m not sure I can say for sure that Wear OS will be around for the long haul. And this is not the only example. Back in October, even Google put Wear OS in second position by choosing to launch a YouTube Music app for Apple Watch first. Worse yet, Google’s latest updates for Wear OS were ridiculous at best, with slightly better application load times and a weather tile as the characteristics of the marquee.

That was all Wear OS had to offer in 2020. Compare that to Samsung’s successful year, in which he absolutely took him out of the park with the Galaxy Watch 3. Right now, the Galaxy Watch 3 is the only other flagship smartwatch that can match the Apple Watch on almost any feature. Of course, Iit is not perfect. Some features like its FDA approved EKG app are currently only available for owners of Samsung smartphones. However, there is really no competition between the Galaxy Watch 3 and even the best of the best Wear OS watches I have tested.

To be fair, once upon a time, Samsung used Wear OS – and then Android Wear – on its smartwatches. But in 2014, he switched to Tizen with the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, probably for the same reasons almost every other smartwatch maker besides Fossil at the time: Google. Clunky user interface, low adoption rate, and the obsolete Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip.

So why, Why Would Samsung be reverting to a platform that has yet to put its shit together? I can think of a few reasons, but none of them are particularly good. For starters, Tizen doesn’t have a great third-party app ecosystem, and moving to Wear OS could open it up to more apps. But to be completely honest, Wear OS apps don’t have a lot of developer. like, even if there is are more of them. For example, Spotify for Wear OS is a glorified remote control, while Spotify for Tizen lets you use playlists offline. Google’s native Wear OS apps perform at their best, and frankly, it’s weird than the integrated Google Fit training app is actually now divided into many different versions. Google Fit, even with more recent updates, is also not better than Samsung Health, and installing both on your watch is again tedious.

The other reason I got to see Samsung making the switch would be to bring the option of Google Assistant and Google Pay to Samsung watches. And that would be great, because Samsung Pay is more restrictive to use than Google Pay, and who the hell really loves Bixby? But does Samsung need to opt for Wear OS to integrate Assistant and Google Pay? Fitbit manages to have Google Assistant work on Fitbit OS, why not allow Samsung to do the same? (Granted, Fitbit probably has Assistant, as Google now owns the business.)

Chances are a Samsung Wear OS watch sucks less than all other Wear OS watches. But that’s mainly because Samsung could use its exclusive Exynos SoC instead of relying on Qualcomm, which does the bare minimum.. Also, while I’m sure Samsung’s rotating bezel navigation could be worn on a Wear OS watch, it just wouldn’t be as good unless Google allowed Samsung to run a Wear OS skin (which is what Oppo did with its OS Wear Look). It’s telling that Wear OS was actually decent on the Oppo watch because it neither looked nor worked like Wear OS. And at that point, what is even the reason for changing Tizen?

It’s clear that Google is taking more advantage of Samsung using Wear OS than the other way around. Samsung bringing its smartwatch innovations to this platform would suddenly make it relevant again– provided that all of Samsung’s apps, including those that require FDA clearance, can easily take the leap.

Except that wouldn’t make Wear OS as a whole good. For that to happen, other watchmakers would have to figure out how to get the most out of Wear OS. Google should actually update the damn platform consistently with actually Well features, not incremental features that are hardly a blip on the radar. Qualcomm should figure out how to update its portable SoC to current process technology and do it more than once every two years. And that’s if Google doesn’t decide to go up –end it all now that he owns Fitbit at do something else.

Android users – and not just those who use Samsung smartphones – deserve a great smartwatch. It doesn’t seem like the best way to get one.