Samsung unveiled its first smartwatches running Wear OS during the Galaxy Unpacked event yesterday. With the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, Samsung has ditched Tizen OS in favor of Wear OS 3. So, what does that mean for older Galaxy Watches running Tizen OS? Will they be updated to Wear OS as well?
Nope. Samsung has made it clear that its older Galaxy Watch models will continue to run Tizen and they won't be updated to Wear OS. This means that if you have a Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active, Galaxy Watch Active 2, or the Galaxy Watch 3, your smartwatch won't get the Wear OS 3 update. However, that doesn't mean it is the end of the road. The South Korean firm has promised that its older smartwatches will get three years of software updates (from their launch dates), which means that you will continue to get new features and bug fixes with future updates.
While we think that at least the Galaxy Watch 3 deserves an upgrade to Wear OS, that is not going to happen. It is possible that Samsung will release an updated version of One UI and some new software features to older Galaxy Watch models. Recently, Samsung announced that it will move its first smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, from Android Wear to Tizen.
Tizen was good, but Wear OS 3 is better
Tizen is a good wearable platform and smartwatches based on the OS are fast and efficient. However, they have very few third-party apps, and consumers complain they their favorite app isn't available on the Galaxy Store for Samsung's smartwatches. With Wear OS 3, that shouldn't be a problem anymore since Google's Play Store has thousands of third-party apps and watch faces. It also features third-party watch face complications and Tiles and deeper integration with Android smartphones.
Will you keep using your Tizen-based Galaxy Watch or will you upgrade to the Galaxy Watch 4 series? Let us know in the comments section below.
