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During this year’s I/O conference, Google announced the upcoming release of Wear OS 4 for the Pixel Watch and other smartwatches. As the launch date draws nearer, Google may soon introduce a ‘Wear OS Beta Program’ to provide you with the opportunity to maximize your device’s potential before updates are rolled out to the general public.
According to a report from 9to5Google, code strings found on the Android Beta page suggest that the beta program will initially support the Google Pixel Watch Bluetooth/Wi-Fi model, as well as the Google Pixel Watch 4G LTE + Bluetooth/Wi-Fi variant. In time, I’m sure other non-Google branded smartwatches will also be supported, but there’s no way to tell right now.
The company has already begun making changes to the beta device enrollment page, utilizing terminology like “Android Devices” instead of “Phones”, which it’s done up until now. For those unfamiliar, Wear OS 4 boasts several notable improvements, including enhanced text-to-speech functionality that is both faster and more accurate as well as seamless data transfer between different watches. This means you can swap out your preferred watch style or device without sacrificing your personalized data and settings.
Battery optimization is another highlight of the new OS version, and when it drops, your battery will drop less quickly! Through power management tweaks and formatting enhancements, Google hopes to squeeze more battery life out for your wrist.
All of this to say that Wear OS has come a long way, sure, but it still has a long way left to go. Having a beta program to test features before release and give feedback is long overdue, but before the Pixel Watch, Google didn’t really even seem to care much about Wear OS, if we’re honest.
The launch of Wear OS 4 is anticipated to occur in September or before the end of the year. Share your thoughts in the comments section if you are excited about this release or if it piques your interest. It’s important to note that beta programs may introduce potential bugs and performance issues, so observing the program’s progress over time will be intriguing, especially if you install it on your daily driver – something I warn against!
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