Samsung's smartwatches are among the best in the industry, especially for Android smartphones. The company had abandoned Google's Wear OS platform years ago in favor of Tizen to make its smartwatches more feature-rich and power-efficient. With the Galaxy Watch 4, the company is switching back to a brand new version of Wear OS that it has jointly developed with Google. It should solve Samsung's app availability problems, but I expect the company's upcoming smartwatches to offer something more.
Google and Samsung have mentioned that the new version of Wear OS (tentative branding) is faster, more power-efficient, better designed, and comes with more features. But that's not nearly enough to match the Apple Watch. Here are three things that the Galaxy Watch 4 should feature to attract more buyers.
Brighter screen in outdoor conditions
Samsung already makes the industry's best smartwatch displays, and it even supplies them for the Apple Watch. However, screen visibility under direct sunlight is still not as good as it is on Galaxy smartphones. The company should use a brighter display on the Galaxy Watch 4, making content on the screen more easily visible to the eyes even in challenging conditions.
It should also improve the calibration of the tilt-to-wake feature on its Galaxy watches so that the display activates more reliably when you tilt your wrist to check the time or notifications.
Faster processor, more storage space
To take full advantage of all those Wear OS apps, complications, and tiles, Samsung should use a faster processor than current smartwatches so that the whole UI feels fluid and zippy. It is being rumored that the Galaxy Watch 4 will come with a 5nm Exynos processor, and I hope that it offers a much-needed boost in terms of speed and power efficiency. These improvements can attract a lot of users who are looking to upgrade from their existing Wear OS smartwatch.
The company also needs to increase RAM and storage space on its smartwatches. While the Apple Watch Series 6 has 32GB storage space, the Galaxy Watch 3 is still limited to just 8GB. Samsung should increase the storage space to at least 16GB so that users can download all the apps and music they need without worrying about storage space.
Faster charging
The Apple Watch typically lasts 1-1.5 days on a single charge, while Wear OS users would be lucky if their existing watch lasts more than 24 hours on a single charge. Galaxy smartwatches already lead in the battery life department, lasting 2-3 days on a single charge. But Samsung can make the whole deal even sweeter by offering faster charging on its smartwatches.
With fast charging and longer battery life in place, the Galaxy Watch 4 can attract many potential smartwatch buyers.
What other features would you like to see on the Galaxy Watch 4? Let us know in the comments section below.
