Google had all however deserted its smartwatch platform till Samsung stepped in final yr to assist construct Wear OS 3. Now the corporate lastly appears open to tackling the issues its consumer have been complaining about for years, beginning with assist for left-handed customers.

A member of Google’s workforce seems to have confirmed a Wear OS replace that may allow you to use your smartwatch upside-down, or flipped 180 levels (by way of Android Authority). This is especially helpful for lefties who sometimes put on watches on their proper hand with the buttons dealing with towards their physique—in a much less accessible and doubtlessly uncomfortable place.

Soon, it appears, this oft-neglected group can cease utilizing third-party apps designed to repair this drawback and can as a substitute be capable of flip the watch upside-down so these buttons face towards their wrist and will be simply pressed with their different hand.

“Our development team has implemented the feature you have requested and will be available on future new devices,” an unknown Google user commented.

Before we give Google an excessive amount of credit score, a fast scroll up on this thread reveals that the primary criticism was submitted in April 2018, and Google didn’t say a phrase whereas dozens of consumers requested the identical seemingly trivial repair for the previous 3.5 years. Some of these of us claimed to have switched to the Apple Watch or promised to not purchase a Wear OS gadget till the issue was addressed.

And to make issues worse, the Google worker particularly states the function could be out there solely on “future new devices,” not as a patch rolled out to current smartwatches.

“If you wanted to push people towards google wear devices, you’re not doing a very good job of it,” one particular person responded. “This is a simple feature that should be able to ve [sic] implemented on older devices through a small patch.”

In distinction, the unique Apple Watch from 2015 could possibly be used the wrong way up, making it simpler for lefties to fiddle with essential features utilizing the crown—the one minor compromise being that the button drops to the underside of the watch while you flip it round.

Wear OS 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 sign a renewal of Google’s struggling smartwatch platform, however forcing a bunch (roughly 10%, we will assume) of consumers to purchase a brand new watch after ignoring years of complaints is precisely why Google finds itself on this place within the first place.

We’ve reached out to Google to substantiate the upcoming function and ask why it gained’t be coming to current smartwatches. We’ll replace this text after we be taught extra.