TechSmartwatchesGoogle working with new partner on future Wear OS watches, and it’s a name you might recognise alreadyHopefully it means more variety will come backWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechSmartwatchesGoogle working with new partner on future Wear OS watches, and it’s a name you might recognise alreadyHopefully it means more variety will come backWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Hopefully it means more variety will come back
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Matt Kollat/T3)
(Image credit: Matt Kollat/T3)
Quick SummaryGoogle has announced a partnership with Masimo to build a reference platform for Wear OS.The platform will include a suite of health and wellness tracking tools that should make it easier for OEMs to make Wear OS watches again.
Google has announced a partnership with Masimo to build a reference platform for Wear OS.The platform will include a suite of health and wellness tracking tools that should make it easier for OEMs to make Wear OS watches again.
Google has announced a partnership with Masimo to build a reference platform for Wear OS.The platform will include a suite of health and wellness tracking tools that should make it easier for OEMs to make Wear OS watches again.
Google has announced a partnership with Masimo to build a reference platform for Wear OS.
The platform will include a suite of health and wellness tracking tools that should make it easier for OEMs to make Wear OS watches again.
There was a time when if you were after asmartwatch, you had a host of options available to you. It wasn’t justApple Watch,Samsung GalaxyWatch orGoogle’s Pixel Watch, but Fossil offered a multitude of smartwatch models across its various brands from Michael Kors to Diesel.
When Google teamed up with Samsung to launch Wear OS 3 back in 2021, things shifted in the smartwatch world. Not only did Wear OS 3 – and the more recent iterations of that software – not supportiPhone, but fewer manufacturers like Fossil were on board with producing smartwatches to run on it.
One of the reasons for that,as 9to5Google reports, is that Wear OS 3 and newer have taken a different approach to health. Google has moved away from Google Fit and over to Fitbit in the last couple of years, while Samsung has its own Samsung Health offering, and never needed Google Fit.
It meant manufacturers like Fossil were then left short as without Google Fit, they would have to come up with their own solutions to health and fitness features where previously that was sorted through Fit. As such, Fossil confirmed it would no longer make Wear OS watches at the beginning of this year, which was a blow when it came to variety.
Will the variety return?
Things may shift in the smartwatch field again, however. Health technology company Masimo – the one in a legal dispute withAppleat the moment and the one responsible for Apple disabling blood oxygen tracking on itsWatch Series 9,Watch Ultra 2andWatch Series 10in the US – has announced a new partnership with Google.
Sign up to the T3 newsletter for smarter living straight to your inbox
Get all the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products from the T3 experts
“The robust reference platform is designed to support the fast-growing Wear OS ecosystem – including with a suite of health and wellness tracking tools that consumers can trust to provide accurate, reliable data, seamless integration withAndroidsmartphones, and a high-quality, high-performance experience.”
The partnership should still allow OEMs to customise Wear OS and design smartwatches as they wish, but Masimo will provide some of the hardware sensors within those smartwatches and some of the software, including the companion phone app, 9to5Google reports.
Will it be enough to bring some OEMs back into the smartwatch world? We sure hope so.
Today’s best Google Pixel Watch 3 deals$349.99View$349.99View$358.21ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Google Pixel Watch 3 deals$349.99View$349.99View$358.21ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Google Pixel Watch 3 deals
$349.99View$349.99View$358.21View
$349.99View
$349.99View
$349.99View
$349.99
$349.99
$349.99View
$349.99View
$349.99View
$349.99
$349.99
$358.21View
$358.21View
$358.21View
$358.21
$358.21
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Build bigger arms in just 30 minutes with this 5-move dumbbell-only workoutIt’ll leave the biceps and triceps popping!
It’ll leave the biceps and triceps popping!
OMEGA puts the moon on your wrist with its new Speedmaster Moonphase MeteoriteOMEGA adds two new Moonphase Meteorite watches to its Speedmaster line-up
OMEGA adds two new Moonphase Meteorite watches to its Speedmaster line-up
