The Wear OS 3 has had a good run. But it has been around for quite a while now. Well, Google has finally unveiled Wear OS 4 with the Galaxy Watch 6 lineup launch. And while the Galaxy Watch 6 devices are the first to run the updated wearable OS, more smartwatches with the new OS are on the horizon.
But what changes did the Wear OS 4 bring? Well, the new OS does bring a lot of improvements. And in my opinion, some of them are good enough to make you upgrade your smartwatch if it doesn’t support the new OS. Let’s give you a rundown of all the big changes that Google brought out with the new wearable OS.
Better Sleep Tracking
For months, Samsung has been advertising how much of an improvement its new watches bring in terms of sleep tracking. Samsung has basically implemented a new approach to sleep. With Wear OS 4 and One UI Watch 5, Samsung has put more focus on sleep coaching.
What this essentially does is help you to build better sleep habits. To do so, the Watch 6 takes some vital measurements, such as blood oxygen, sleep phases, and heart rate. After collecting this data, the Galaxy Watch 6 analyses them and gives you a detailed breakdown of the night.
From this breakdown, you can check which sleep habits are working for you and which areas require improvement. Samsung has also implemented a sleep score mechanism, letting you quickly understand how good your sleep was the previous night.
Personalized Heart Rate Zones
The Galaxy Watch 6 with Wear OS 4 improves a lot on personalized heart rate zones. This feature set includes analyzing real-time running data and data from interval training programs. Of course, not everyone utilizes those programs. So, this feature is mostly for runners and athletes.
That said, there are five intensity levels. They are fat burn, warm-up, cardio, max effort, and hard training. Each of these levels ties itself to a certain range, which depends on your body’s needs. And as the Galaxy Watch gets more data, it will let you know where you need to focus more to achieve your fitness goals.
Better Notification Handling on Wear OS 4
Notification improvements are basically the most forward-facing changes present on Wear OS 4. And these changes will not be exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy 6 as it’s a core update from the new wearable OS.
Nonetheless, in Wear OS 4, the notification tiles are larger than in Wear OS 3. Each of the notification ties is also backed by a gray square. This change makes it easier for you to read the incoming notifications. But again, to get the most out of this feature, you need to have a watch with a large display.
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In addition, the incoming message notifications on Wear OS 4 display a photo from the contact. This change will make it easier to determine who has sent you the text.
Simple Switching on Wear OS 4
Another upgrade for the Wear OS 4 is the simple transferring method. Basically, Google has made the process of transferring from one watch to a new device. On Wear OS 3, you would need to reset the watch to add a new device. It was the only method, and the transfer took a lot of time too.
But on Wear OS 4, it’s possible to transfer to a new watch without resetting it. That means you don’t have to go through any extra hassles to connect your watch to a new phone. And there’s no need to restore any backup after the transfer either. All the settings, watch faces, and apps will be exactly how they were before the transfer.
Automatic Backups
There are some instances where you might need to restore to a backup. Well, Wear OS 4 makes it easier. On One UI 5, the Samsung Watch 6 has introduced a nifty automatic backup feature. This backup initiates periodically, and you can find all the backups stored in the Samsung Smart Switch app.
You can also store the backups on your Samsung account cloud, which will offer you a bit of extra peace of mind.
Emergency SOS On Wear OS 4
Before One UI 5, based on Wear OS 4, Samsung Galaxy watches had no option to contact emergency SOS services. That made the watches a little less reliable when an emergency event is taking place. With the Galaxy Watch 6, Samsung now lets you set an SOS option.
Once enabled, the watch can directly contact 911 or other services that are in your location. Yes, it was possible to make the Galaxy watches call 911 before. But you would need to set the emergency number as a personal emergency contact on your phone. So, with the Wear OS 4, this feature basically got a bit more user-friendly.
Background ECG Readings
Samsung brought out automatic background ECGs on the Galaxy Watch 6. It silently works in the background and will alert you when the watch detects irregular heartbeats. Although it’s not an exclusive Wear OS 4 feature, it’s definitely welcoming. It should let users stay on top of their health.
Yes, the feature may not be 100% accurate. But it can surely get users to double-check whether there’s indeed a problem or not. And it would be great to see the feature coming to other watches with Wear OS 4.
One thing that you can not do with the OS that you could with Tizen is create or reply to emails directly from the wearable. Now you have to go to the handheld to create or reply. This is very frustrating if you do not have the handheld nearby and need to reply immediately or to send that quick email in a hurry.