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Operating Systems

Google and Samsung Are Merging Wear OS and Tizen (theverge.com) 44

Posted by BeauHD from the combined-forces dept.
Today, Google and Samsung announced that they are merging Wear OS and Tizen in an effort to better compete against Apple's watchOS. "The resulting platform is currently being referred to simply as 'Wear,' though that might not be the final name," notes The Verge. From the report: Benefits of the joint effort include significant improvements to battery life, 30 percent faster loading times for apps, and smoother animations. It also simplifies life for developers and will create one central smartwatch OS for the Android platform. Google is also promising a greater selection of apps and watch faces than ever before. "All device makers will be able to add a customized user experience on top of the platform, and developers will be able to use the Android tools they already know and love to build for one platform and ecosystem," Google's Bjorn Kilburn wrote in a blog post.

Wired has more details on what's to come, including the tidbit that Samsung will stick with its popular rotating bezel on future devices -- but it's finished making Tizen-only smartwatches. There will also be a version of Google Maps that works standalone (meaning without your phone nearby) and a YouTube Music app that supports offline downloads. Oh, and Spotify will support offline downloads on Wear smartwatches, as well. Samsung confirmed that its next Galaxy Watch will run on this unified platform. And future "premium" Fitbit devices will also run the software.
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Google and Samsung Are Merging Wear OS and Tizen More

Google and Samsung Are Merging Wear OS and Tizen

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  • The used look. (Score:3)

    by Ostracus ( 1354233 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @09:07PM (#61398628) Journal

    The resulting platform is currently being referred to simply as 'Wear,' though that might not be the final name, notes The Verge.

    The new wear and tear watch. Banged up and scratched up. Who wouldn't want to own one?

    • I hate companies that use common English words for product names. It means when you try to Google it, 99% of the links are false hits.

      "WearOS" is acceptable, Just "Wear" is not.

      Disclaimer: I won't buy it either way. My spouse has an Apple Watch, and even she admits it is silly.

      • I used to play a game called Glitch.

        Try to google anything about a game called Glitch.

      • Google Wear. Apple Watch. Samsung Gear. Seems like they're all pretty comparable to me.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        I got a Xiaomi Mi Band 5 for 20 bucks. Does heart rate monitoring, Sp02, steps, all that stuff, as well as showing the time and notifications.

        It's not essential but for 20 bucks it's a great little device. I was sceptical about the health monitoring stuff but I've found it's useful and encourages me to exercise more.

        • Yeah, I've got the 4 and it's nice knowing how much I walk or sleep every day. Also, I think those devices have potential for health uses beyond step counting: I read that Samsung and Apple were working on watches that would be able to measure blood sugar. If they keep adding monitoring options and then you add some ML monitoring algorithms you might be able to detect some diseases in the early stages.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by cusco ( 717999 )

            Insurance companies are salivating for this data. I don't think they're allowed to use it without your consent, but I can easily foresee that they'll offer a discount to customers who agree to hand it over. Of course if your data shows an issue your fees (or your group's fees) will take a jump.

  • Knew vaguely what it was (kinda like a Palm Pilot) but
    had to look it up on Wikipedia to get the details.

  • sniff

  • Is annoying, and a waste. square is much better you can see more of texts and there is more area for buttons or mini games.

    • >"Is annoying, and a waste. square is much better you can see more of texts and there is more area for buttons or mini games."

      If you care nothing about aesthetics, you are correct. Some of us also care about style. And for the main purpose- being a WATCH with an always-on screen, a circular faced smart watch makes perfect sense. And that is why all my smart watches have been round (and always "on"). I do not read novels on it, and for notifications, it is perfectly fine. I am a fan of CHOICE- if you

      • If you care nothing about aesthetics, you are correct. Some of us also care about style.

        If you cared about style you wouldn't want that shit on your wrist making you look like a screen addict.

    • Is annoying, and a waste. square is much better you can see more of texts and there is more area for buttons or mini games.

      You are right... and wrong.

      I've long been a proponent of square bezel for exactly the reasons you state. But... after my last Pebble started to go, I picked the best (for me) of what was available, ending up with a Galaxy Watch. I'm not a fan of the round bezel but... the rotating bezel as a control is absolutely brilliant. As in, if I had a choice between square with buttons only and the exact same features, or round with the rotating bezel... I'd pick the round one. Because it's just that good.

    • You know a circle and a square can have same area, right?

      Regarding wasting space, a circle has an optimal extent (diameter) for a given area, whereas a square has a longer diagonal.

  • I've owned three different Android Wear watches, three Tizen watches and two Apple Watches and Apple is so far ahead of Google and Samsung that they were never going to be able to catch up on their own. I'm stuck with an iPhone Mini running godawful iOS until some manufacturer starts making high-spec, small Android phones with competent smartwatch support. Really hope this means I can go back to Android in a couple of years.

    • Use Garmin and just sync when you get home. It's accurate enough.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Cederic ( 9623 )

        I like my Garmin watch. Gives me a range of nice features, easy to program, comes with apps that do all the things I want and looks much nicer than anything Apple sells.

        I like its several days of battery life too.

  • Taligent, MS OS/2, MeeGo (Score:4, Insightful)

    by BLToday ( 1777712 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @10:34PM (#61398834)

    I’m sure this will go as well as Apple/IBM Taligent, IBM/MS OS/2,and MeeGo (Intel Moblin + Nokia Maemo).

    • Tizen IS Meego.

      Which WAS Moblin.

      Which WAS Intel's version of Linux for Intel netbooks which they deliberately crippled so it wouldn't run on AMD notebooks.

      IOW, Tizen is a dumb joke with a bad beginning and no end.

      • Tizen IS Meego.

        Which WAS Moblin.

        Which WAS Intel's version of Linux for Intel netbooks which they deliberately crippled so it wouldn't run on AMD notebooks.

        IOW, Tizen is a dumb joke with a bad beginning and no end.

        My bad. I thought Tizen was Bada. Didn’t realized they came from MeeGo.

  • How are they *merging* two independently developed OSes? LIke Windows and LInux...merging into...WSL?

    • Well, both are derived from Linux.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by larwe ( 858929 )
        Sure they both have Linux underneath but the meat of app code interacts with a completely different UI layer. I predict that this will be a stone-dropping-into-pond event where one or other OS basically goes away, with a few of its ideas being incorporated into the "winner" OS, and a migration kit being provided so that watch app vendors (all three of them) can create really crappy "add this library and recompile" fast ports of their current apps to the new ecosystem.

        This is really most interesting at the

        • Tizen was originally part of Samsung's "let's unseat Google so we can ship phones that we monetize the way they monetize Android" strategy.

          Tizen was originally Meego and Meego was originally Moblin. So Tizen was originally Intel's attempt to make a pretty Linux desktop that wouldn't run on AMD.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by larwe ( 858929 )
            Well, yes - I should have said "Tizen was _earlier_ part of Samsung's ...". It seems to occupy roughly the same niche as WebOS now - useful for embedded devices, zero chance of being a mainstream OS for general-purpose portable devices.

      • Right, my bad.
        By "OS" I should have specify "set of xUI behaviours including hw specifications, a userland API that all apps are written against and the rest of development ecosystem"...

  • If only the Apple Watch supported Android (Score:3)

    by quenda ( 644621 ) on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @01:27AM (#61399088)

    Apple does the best watches ... except for lack of Android support.
    I love the Apple watch, but am one of those people not giving up Android for the walled garden of IOS.
    If it had just worked on Android, Tizen and WearOS would both be dead.

    Is that a ridiculous idea? No, Apple made their popular iPods work with Windows as well as MacOS.
    And the iPad. Both iPod and iPad dominated their markets.
    Why not something similar with the watches?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I just don't find expensive smart watches like the Apple one very appealing.

      For health, time and notifications you can get a really well made Mi Band for less than 1/10th of the price and the battery life is really solid. Plus you aren't too worried if you ding it.

      For a watch/fashion accessory there are much nicer ones. Some of the Japanese models (Casio, Citizen, Seiko etc.) with dual battery (one for the watch and one just for Bluetooth notifications) and a traditional look with mechanical face seem nice

      • I liked my Galaxy watch well enough, although you're right that the on board audio was more a gimmick than useful. Seeing notifications on your wrist is great, so after the Galaxy watch met its end after being dropped once (which really shouldn't have destroyed it), I went with a Garmin hybrid watch with more traditional watch materials and it is a tank and only needs charging every 3 or 4 days or so for smart features and becomes an analog watch for a few weeks if it runs down past what it needs for the s

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by quenda ( 644621 )

        I just don't find expensive smart watches like the Apple one very appealing.

        Those "sport bands" certainly have a place. But we are considering more featured devices like Tizen & WearOS.
        The basic $199 Apple watch 3 has most of the strong advantages, so you don't need to spend a fortune. Is that "expensive" for a watch these days?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      My wife's expensive iToy needs charging daily, my $39 Brand X has to get plugged into its charger about once every two weeks. Mine doesn't do as much as hers, but I don't actually want *any* of the other features so it doesn't matter. The only meaningful difference between the two that I've found is that her touchscreen is better (mine generally takes two or three taps to acknowledge, I suspect that's a deficiency of this specific watch since I don't see many complaints about it in the reviews).

  • The base on paper seems good - it's E! (if you don't know what E! is, turn in your geek card). Tizen uses it as their graphics library for applications.

    Of which, there are numerous notable problems, all nicely documented...

    https://what.thedailywtf.com/t... [thedailywtf.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by waspleg ( 316038 )

      Here's my card. It doesn't make you a less sanctimonious twat.

      I have multiple Samsung TVs - I don't need to know what graphics libraries it uses to know Tizen is garbage.

  • On the smart watch market. On the plus side for Apple, courts have recently ruled that this can not be considered a monopoly, since only douchebags wear those fucking things.
  • Still don't see a reason to buy a smart watch.
    You can get a better watch and heart monitor both for cheaper. My phone or PC can do the rest.

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