Android Wear has officially been rebranded to Wear OS by Google, and users are hoping that the new name is just the start of significant changes coming to the operating system for wearable devices.
Rumors on the Android Wear name change started appearing recently, and it was thought that the rebranding would be unveiled at the upcoming I/O developers' conference. The announcement, however, came much earlier than expected, and so it will be Wear OS heading into the annual event by Google.
Why Did Google Rename Android Wear To Wear OS?
The name change of Android Wear to Wear OS was announced through the official Google blog. Dennis Troper, the Director of Product Management for the operating system, explained that the rebranding was necessary due to the changes in technology, partnerships, and most importantly, in users.
According to Troper, in 2017, one out of every three new owners of an Android Wear smartwatch paired the device to an iPhone by rival Apple. With such a statistics, Google is looking to eliminate the notion that Android Wear devices only work with Android smartphones, similar to why Android Pay was combined with Google Wallet to be renamed as Google Play.
Android Wear Issues
The new name of Android Wear, unfortunately, is the best news that has been reported for the operating system for about a year.
Android Wear 2.0 was released over a year ago, and there is still no announcement on an update. Before that, there was a gap of 2.5 years between Android Wear 1.0 and Android Wear 2.0. In addition to the stagnation of the operating system itself, the hardware side has also been very slow. Google has not created its own smartwatch to showcase Android Wear 2.0 like it did with the Pixel smartphones for Android.
With all these issues, Android Wear-powered devices have not been able to challenge the presence of the Apple Watch in the wearables industry.
What Users Want To See In Wear OS
Android Wear 2.0 is terribly outdated compared to Apple's watchOS 4, but the foundation is solid. There will be no major features added alongside the rebranding, but Wear OS is already enough to make it a perfectly capable operating system for wearable devices.
Fans of Android Wear would want Wear OS to get the similar kind of attention given to Android, with constant updates and the regular addition of new features. The best thing that may happen would be a Google-made smartwatch showcasing Wear OS. Will such a device be unveiled at the upcoming I/O developers' conference?
Users will have to wait and see if the name change to Wear OS will lead to a much improved Android Wear. At the very least, we now know that Google has not forgotten about the operating system.
