Today at its I/O developer conference, Google unveiled Wear OS 5, offering a sneak peek at the new features and improvements coming with the platform. While the final version of the wearable OS is not yet ready for rollout, the developer preview already showcases enhanced battery life as a key highlight.
One of the most significant improvements in Wear OS 5 is its enhanced battery life. Google has stated that the new platform will consume 20% less power than Wear OS 4 when a user runs a marathon.
While Wear OS 4 already brought battery life improvements to supported smartwatches, the potential for even better power management is promising. Google has also provided developers with a new guide on conserving power and battery, empowering them to create more efficient apps for the platform.
Google has introduced new features in watch face format, allowing developers to create various types of watch faces that display different kinds of information.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Google Officially Explains Why Its Apps Are Absent On Huawei Phones
With this update, developers can design apps that provide current weather information at a glance, including the temperature and chances of rain.
Additionally, the platform now supports new complication types, including “goal progress” and “weighted elements,” opening up possibilities for new apps and expanded functionalities in existing ones.
Furthermore, Google’s Health Connect API for Wear OS 5 enables apps to access user data even while running in the background.
It also allows access to health information over the past 30 days, subject to the user’s explicit permission. The Health Services API of Wear OS 5 supports new data types for running, such as ground contact time and stride length, enhancing the platform’s capabilities in the health and fitness domain.
While Google has not announced the official release date for Wear OS 5, considering the timeline of its predecessor, Wear OS 4, which launched with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 in August 2023, it is anticipated that Wear OS 5 could debut with the Samsung Galaxy 7 or the Pixel Watch 3 later this year.
