Samsung have used Tizen as the underlying operating system on their smartwatches since 2014 after originally using an early version of Android Wear on earlier watches. Since then, Wear OS (formerly known as Android Wear) has matured and become a decent wearable operating system.
New reports and leaks have now appeared suggesting that the next smartwatch Samsung release will run Wear OS which is good news for Samsung smartwatch users. Tizen is / was a decent operating system for wearables but unfortunately there was a distinct lack of apps when compared to other wearable operating systems.
This is reported by Sammobile to be the major reason for Samsung moving from Tizen to Wear OS this year. The ability for consumers to access the vast array of Wear OS apps on the Google Play Store brings a whole new attractiveness to Samsung’s smartwatches, which are some of the best designed smartwatches available. The Wear OS operating system will also allow much better integration with users’ Android smartphones and their new Samsung smartwatch.
At this stage, the report and rumour are just that with nothing confirmed and it remains to be seen how Samsung will continue their support of their Tizen-based smartwatches. It may well be possible for Samsung to push out an update to their Tizen watches converting them to Wear OS but that would certainly not be an easy task.
As a user though what does it mean for you? With an older Samsung Tizen-based smartwatch it will of course continue working, even without updates and Tizen does work well on them. Samsung may update their smartwatches to Wear OS which means a lot more apps and better integration with your Android smartphone no matter the brand for you the user — same goes for new, upcoming Samsung smartwatches.
It is not difficult to see why Samsung may well move to Wear OS and in the end we the consumers win with an even better wearable operating system with access to many more apps and functionality.
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
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