Amid the flurry of Google I/O announcements today, Google shared details about Wear OS 7, the next major update to its smartwatch platform. To help you keep track of things like deliveries and sports scores, Wear OS 7 will get the iPhone-style live updates that were introduced on Android last year — which can appear on your watch or your smartphone — and you’ll also be able to track automated tasks the AI is working on from your watch.
Wear OS is also getting an upgrade from its widget-like tiles for wearable information. With the new update, Google is adding “Wear Widgets” to the platform, which look like Android widgets and can appear in smaller or larger layouts that “perfectly align” with Android’s 2×1 and 2×2 widget formats. Some AI-powered features are also coming to Wear OS 7, including the introduction of Gemini Intelligence, Google’s catch-all branding for personalized and active Gemini features, launching “later this year” on “select watches.”
Google is promising “up to 10 percent” improvement in battery life for average users if you’re upgrading from Wear OS 6 to Wear OS 7. The company says it’s investing in “power optimizations” so users can “do more with their favorite apps,” but we’ll have to wait and see how battery life really changes when Wear OS 7 actually becomes available.
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