Wear OS Is Getting a Multi-Generational Leap In Power Thanks To Samsung (arstechnica.com) 37
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Google is cooking up the first major Wear OS release since 2018, and Samsung is abandoning Tizen for smartwatches and going all-in on Wear OS with the Galaxy Watch 4. Last night, Samsung took the wraps off the main SoC for the Galaxy Watch 4, and compared to what Wear OS usually gets, Samsung is shipping a beast of an SoC. The "Samsung Exynos W920" will be a multi-generational leap in performance for Wear OS. Samsung says this is a 5 nm chip with two ARM Cortex A55 cores and an ARM Mali-G68 GPU. For the always-on display mode, there's an additional Cortex M55 CPU, which can keep the watch face ticking along while using minimal power. There's also an integrated LTE modem for on-the-go connectivity.
Compared to Samsung's previous smartwatch chip, the Tizen-only Exynos 9110 (10 nm, 2x Cortex A53), the company is promising "around 20 percent" better CPU performance and "ten times better graphics performance." Remember that the Exynos 9110 is from 2018, so those comparative numbers are inflated, but at 5 nm, this is a more modern chip than Wear OS has ever seen. Wear OS has suffered for years at the hands of Qualcomm, which has been starving the ecosystem of quality SoCs for wearables. Most people's last experience with Wear OS is the Snapdragon Wear 2100 or 3100 SoCs, both of which were ancient Cortex A7 CPUs built on a 28 nm process. Qualcomm introduced a slightly more modern chip, the Wear 4100 in 2020 (a Cortex A53-based, 12 nm chip), but almost no manufacturers actually shipped that chip a year later, and we're still getting Wear 3100 launches today. Qualcomm's answer to Samsung's chip will be the Wear 5100, which isn't due until 2022. We should know more about Wear OS 3.0 tomorrow when Samsung holds its Aug. 11 "Unpacked" event. Not only are they expected to reveal the Galaxy Watch 4 and the big Wear OS revamp, but they're planning to launch at least two new foldable smartphones -- the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3.
Compared to Samsung's previous smartwatch chip, the Tizen-only Exynos 9110 (10 nm, 2x Cortex A53), the company is promising "around 20 percent" better CPU performance and "ten times better graphics performance." Remember that the Exynos 9110 is from 2018, so those comparative numbers are inflated, but at 5 nm, this is a more modern chip than Wear OS has ever seen. Wear OS has suffered for years at the hands of Qualcomm, which has been starving the ecosystem of quality SoCs for wearables. Most people's last experience with Wear OS is the Snapdragon Wear 2100 or 3100 SoCs, both of which were ancient Cortex A7 CPUs built on a 28 nm process. Qualcomm introduced a slightly more modern chip, the Wear 4100 in 2020 (a Cortex A53-based, 12 nm chip), but almost no manufacturers actually shipped that chip a year later, and we're still getting Wear 3100 launches today. Qualcomm's answer to Samsung's chip will be the Wear 5100, which isn't due until 2022. We should know more about Wear OS 3.0 tomorrow when Samsung holds its Aug. 11 "Unpacked" event. Not only are they expected to reveal the Galaxy Watch 4 and the big Wear OS revamp, but they're planning to launch at least two new foldable smartphones -- the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3.
Watch?!? (Score:1, Troll)
I do not get why Google is focused on a watch, makes no sense with their track record, shouldn't a choker be more appropriate, strapped around the neck and not removable. Surely that is more Google's style, gold plated slave collar, call it jewellery and give it away free and the sheeple will let you lock them in it permanently. Disconnect from google, what, did you lose your head, better reconnect slaveOS 'er' wearOS before it is too late and you do lose your head.
I am making the switch to Linux for all s
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slave collars 'er' correctional services protective devices to protect inmates from each other not for guards to play with prisoners with whilst the guards masturbate.
Ooh, slash fiction on Slashdot? Steamy!
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Ahem, if you hadn't noticed it's Apple that built a walled garden and which does business in China with the CCP.
Google is by far the least restrictive and more open of the two.
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Maybe, but he was comparing google to linux, not apple.
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Re:Watch?!? (Score:5, Insightful)
>"Apple release a tablet. Google hacks together Android for tablets (Honeycomb, aka 3.0). Apple releases a watch. Google needs a smartwatch."
I know that "revising" history is popular nowadays. But perhaps you should research a bit first?
Google released WearOS a year BEFORE Apple released Apple Watch, resulting in not one, but THREE "Google" smart watches before Apple (Motorola, LG and Asus). And Samsung, beat both of them, releasing a modern smart watch a year before that.
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I know that "revising" history is popular nowadays.
It's been poplar with Apple basically since Steve invented the reality distortion field.
That is in fact the only genuine invention to come out of Apple, everything else has been refinements (this is not necessarily to be dismissed as unimportant) of existing tech. Oh except rounded corners. They invented those, I'll hand that to them they even have a patent to prove it and I was always stabbing myself on sharp corners before.
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I firmly believe that the Apple Watch rumor at the time was market research*. Let someone else spend the resources to see if there is an actual market. Phone screens kept getting bigger and bigger, so moving to something as small as a watch face for a screen was iffy.
With Apples established tie in as a fashion accessory they weren't worried about being first to market in this segment. If the market was legitimate they just had to release something and it would fly off the shelf. And that's pretty much wh
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Disconnect from google, what, did you lose your head, better reconnect slaveOS 'er' wearOS before it is too late and you do lose your head.
As much as I dislike what Google has become, they aren't doing anything to harm people who choose to disconnect from them. They have been enmeshed with many websites and services but you are the only thing preventing yourself from cutting them off entirely.
If you find yourself "stuck" on Gmail (like I did) then there is ProtonMail or if you have a server then you can setup RainLoop. Firefox is a simple alternative to Chrome, so no excuses there. There are multiple Android substitutes but you probably are
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I'll check out Rainloop.
How are you running it? Docker, lxc, vm, or straight on your server?
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I use ProtonMail because it's no fuss (I loathe spam) but a mate of mine finds it too restrictive and doesn't mind a spam message a day so he's setting up RainLoop. No idea which path he's going but it looks like a really nice webmail system.
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Rather like in "Cloud Atlas": the necklaces worn by Sonmi-451 and the other fast food servers in a future Neo Seoul.
DEATH TO SAMSUNG and GOOGLE!! Dir, Die Die, Die, (Score:3)
/. is so afraid of my comment they won't even allow my subject. DEATH TO SAMSUNG and GOOGLE!!
Just testing that
Don't care (Score:2, Interesting)
First I need smartwatch features that actually make a smartwatch worth buying and wearing with over a more traditional watch.
At this point in time no such features outweigh the fact that smartwatches need to be taken off and charged regularly, whereas non-smart watches can run forever on solar or mechanical energy while also being water proof enough that you literally never have to take it off.
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I don't give a shit if they make a faster smartwatch.
Really? If I can't play Crysis on a screen under 1 inch square then GTFO. I need GPU horsepower on my wrist. Also popup alerts on my computer screen and a buzzing in my pocket aren't enough. I'd say I need a smartwatch so that I won't be out of touch on the can, but we both know that's where I am right now.
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Huh, flamebait. I guess the one smartwatch fan on slashdot got a modpoint.
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Faster means better battery life. Major power consuming devices like the screen and radios can be powered up for less time if the CPU finishes its work faster. Similarly for the GPU if it takes 1/10th the time to render but doesn't use 10x the power that's a net saving.
As for features, the most useful ones are health monitoring. All day heart rate monitoring and step counting provide a pretty decent estimate of calorie burn. You can get a Mi Band 5 for about 20 bucks that will do that.
Sleep tracking is usef
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Guess who owns Fitbit? Google.
Don't you think that maybe some of their tech might end up in a new version of WearOS?
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Probably. Newer Fitbit stuff works with Google Fit at least.
I think the better sleep monitoring is down to the better heart rate monitoring in the Fitbits though. Google's own radar based sleep monitoring isn't brilliant.
There is a guy on YouTube who does proper scientific tests on them, comparing with a proper ECG. Most can get the start and end times of sleep right but none of the cheaper ones can show you the sleep cycles you go through with any accuracy.
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>"At this point in time no such features outweigh the fact that smartwatches need to be taken off and charged regularly"
Just like your phone.
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The problem is that the percentage of people who care about not having to charge a watch is almost negligible today. You're in a very, very tiny minority.
The non-smart watch market is effectively dead, except as a luxury item to be worn as
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Meanwhile... (Score:2)
...I can't get my non-samsung smartphone to update my Galaxy S3 gear to update since 3 years ago.
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That might be a problem with the hardware/firmware on the phone, this BLE thing can be pretty capricious (I know from the Mooshimeter, some phones like it more than others). On the other hand getting updates on almost 5 years old watches and running their weird proprietary OS is pretty impressive: https://www.sammobile.com/news... [sammobile.com]
With the (Samsung) tablets on the other hand ... that's a disaster. With the (same name, what the heck is wrong with them, Phone, Tablet, Watch all called the same at different tim
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>"...I can't get my non-samsung smartphone to update my Galaxy S3 gear to update since 3 years ago."
Never had that problem with my Galaxy S3 being updated many times from my Moto G5 Plus phone.
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Mine updated whenever there was an update when I was using my LG phone. I have a One+ now but there has not yet been a new update to test with.
Don't use Rust on Wear OS! (Score:1)