Android smartwatches are not in a good place right now. Due to fizzling popularity and dwindling sales, Google earlier this year made the decision to rebrand Android Wear as Wear OS, in hopes that this would help the company turn a new page with a more refined and competitive wearable operating system. The rebranding was a necessary move, considering that every third Android smartwatch was being paired with an iPhone, and reflects a broader trend at Google of removing the Android moniker from cross-platform services. But rebranding a product is one thing. Reinventing it is something else entirely.
Google has both the ambitions, the financial muscle, and the backing of leading fashion and tech brands to achieve this. The one thing holding it back right now? The very foundation of Wear OS smartwatches – the technology inside. But with a new Qualcomm system-on-a-chip coming out this year, specifically designed for use in wearables, and not a scaled down version of a mobile SoC, it seems like Google may be able to launch a product — or maybe even three — that could reinvigorate interest in Android smartwatches. So, let's see what's in store.
Google has both the ambitions, the financial muscle, and the backing of leading fashion and tech brands to achieve this. The one thing holding it back right now? The very foundation of Wear OS smartwatches – the technology inside. But with a new Qualcomm system-on-a-chip coming out this year, specifically designed for use in wearables, and not a scaled down version of a mobile SoC, it seems like Google may be able to launch a product — or maybe even three — that could reinvigorate interest in Android smartwatches. So, let's see what's in store.
Three Pixel watches?
There have been rumors floating around for months that Google is working not on one, but on three Pixel-branded smartwatches, slated for release well before the 2018 holiday season. Codenamed 'Ling', 'Triton' and 'Sardine' in typical Google fashion, these are either three different watches, a single model in three different sizes, or possibly three versions of the same (similarly to how Samsung and Apple have Bluetooth-only versions of their smartwatches).
It's too early to say, but taking into account other rumors that claim a number of Google partners — panning prominent fashion brands and tech companies — are also working on Wear OS watches that will launch this fall, chances that Google is planning to release three watches on its own are rather slim. We are most likely looking either at different sizes, or different versions of the same smartwatch.
We still don't know which company Google is going to pick to actually build the Pixel watches. It's a safe bet that they will be designed in-house, but the actual manufacturing will be outsourced to a Google partner. This has been the case with Pixel phones as well (and Nexus devices before them), which were made by HTC and more recently LG. Whatever the case may be, we're hoping to see some uniquely-designed timepieces from Google this year.
Wear OS – Android Wear redefined with Assistant at the helm
 |
One of the things Google likely wants to showcase with the Pixel watch(es) is not that it can design hardware in-house (that's already been proven), but that the new and revamped Wear OS is a worthy competitor to watchOS and Tizen. And what better place to do it than on in-house developed hardware and Google Assistant at the forefront?
At this year's I/O, Google outlined a number of features that will be making their way to Wear OS in the months following the conference, with improved Google Assistant integration front and center during the announcement. This is especially important for Google, which has been expanding its virtual assistant across multiple platforms and improving its functionality with regular updates. When it comes to smartwatches, with their limited screen real estate and input options, controlling Google Assistant with your voice — be it through paired earphones or a microphone on the watch — could help considerably improve the user experience.
