Samsung offered a glimpse into the new Galaxy Watch experience at its 28 June MWC live stream event, as it teased the upcoming ‘One UI Watch’ – its latest OS, made in collaboration with Google.
Google originally announced its partnership with Samsung at its Google I/O developer conference in May but Samsung’s Mobile World Congress stream granted new insight into what this new wearable experience will offer.
With the introduction of One UI Watch, Samsung will phase out Tizen – the software that currently keeps its Galaxy Watch devices ticking – meaning software support will soon start to phase out as well.
Christina Burton, Samsung’s Europe Marketing spokesperson announced that Samsung will offer software support for Tizen-based devices “for at least three years from product launch date”.
While exact dates were not provided, the timeline suggests the original Galaxy Watch, which released in August 2018, may stop receiving support by the end of this year, even it makes the jump to One UI Watch before that point.
Other models still have some time left. The Watch Active and Watch Active 2 released in March and September 2019, respectively, while the Galaxy Watch 3 released last August.
Watch the Samsung Galaxy MWC 2021 event again here
‘One UI Watch’ highlights – what can you expect?
With One UI Watch, Samsung promises to seamlessly integrate the One UI mobile experience found on its Galaxy Smartphones with the Galaxy Watch. Here’s what you can expect:
- LTE connectivity – eSIM coverage with global carriers.
- Auto app installation – Apps downloaded to your phone will automatically appear on your Watch (provided a wearable version of the app exists).
- Cross-device app sync – Settings from experiences like the Clock app (such as your selected world clocks) on your phone, will synchronise to the watch automatically.
- Cross-device control – You’ll also be able to block calls and messages on your phone from the Watch with One UI Watch.
- Better responsiveness and longer battery life – Apps to start 30% faster while lower power cores will allow continuous heart-rate monitoring while preserving battery life.
- Seamless access to Google apps and Android apps – Users can access app experiences like Google Maps and apps downloaded via Google Play Store such as Spotify, Calm, and Strava.
- Watch faces design tool available to developers – Android developers will be able to use Samsung’s Watch face design tool to create new watch faces
Samsung is set to release a new Galaxy Watch (assumed to be the long-rumoured Galaxy Watch 4) with the fully-fledged One UI Watch support at its Unpacked event later this summer (rumoured to be taking place on 3 August).
