Google is launching its latest Wear OS 5 version, which brings a transformative Watch Face Format. But the good news is not for all.
Wearables are becoming the new favorite accessory of the smart generation. While Apple Watches do lead the industry, the Android community still remains above them in terms of population. Google announced the launch of Wear OS 5 earlier during the I/O 2024 event in May, a big transformation in the interface and functionalities of Google and other Android smartwatches.
The Wear OS 5 version will come in all new watches, and an upgrade will be provided to the compatible older watches as well. However, a huge chunk of Android watches will not be eligible for the update. Users on these old watches can keep running them with the older OS versions, but the support and new themes will gradually diminish.
The new Wear OS brings a new Watch Face Format technology that changes the entire UI and UX of the devices. It comes with enhanced performance and privacy improvements. It also Once, an older device upgrades to Wear OS 5, it cannot be rolled back to the previous version. The devices will also stop supporting older Watch Face themes.
Change is hard to digest, but users having the older smartwatches will have to face the inevitable. Samsung has launched its latest flagship Galaxy Watch 7, the first hardware that runs using Googles Wear OS 5, layered with Samsungs One UI 6.0 on top. Individual creators will also get added support to create the new Watch Faces for their audience. The new OS format will support XML-based standard to help them maintain long-term designs, but they will have to adopt the new OS first. Google Assistant will also be getting feature upgrades in the new Wear OS 5, including smart suggestions, and speakback function through watch speakers.
The Jetpack Watch Face library will still keep supporting OS 2 smartwatches. But, the disjointed support from Google for older OS versions will discourage them from bringing new Watch Faces for the older smartwatches. As a result, the maximum proximity older watches may reach is a cheaper rip-off version of the latest OS, something we have witnessed in older Android phones that could not support newer OS versions.
