Google’s attempting to show it’s severe about Wear OS 3 with vacation updates

Earlier this fall, Google lastly launched the Pixel Watch. It wasn’t an ideal smartwatch, nevertheless it was a decent first try in a class that Google notoriously uncared for for years.

Even so, it’s onerous to shake off the concept Google may prematurely abandon its revived wearable ambitions if it doesn’t do “well enough.” This is why the corporate has been quietly chugging away at Wear OS enhancements within the background. The newest is a spherical of “holiday” Android updates that carry new Tiles, an improved Google Keep app, and Google Assistant integration for Adidas Running.

For Tiles — Google’s moniker for smartwatch widgets — Wear OS 3 customers will be capable to view their favourite contacts in addition to dawn and sundown occasions. The latter is commonly included on smartwatches, partly so athletes can plan their outdoorsy excursions.

Meanwhile, Google Keep will likely be up to date later this month to look extra interesting on the wrist (and that shiny new Pixel Watch show). That contains the power to view labels and collaborators, customized backgrounds, photographs, and drawings. Lastly, it’s rolling out an Adidas Running app integration with Google Assistant over the subsequent week with the intention to use the digital assistant to begin monitoring a exercise. That is, supplied you might have a Wear OS 3 watch with Google Assistant put in, an web connection, and a suitable Android cellphone with the app put in.

While the vacation connection is tenuous, the extra necessary factor is that Google continues to chug together with Wear OS updates, each minor and main. Google might have been first to the smartwatch scene with Android Wear in 2014, however the platform stagnated till it purchased Fitbit and partnered with Samsung to create Wear OS 3. Since then, the transition has been a bit messy, with options typically arriving months later than promised. See: the yr it took Google Assistant to reach on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4. It’s pure to take a look at the transition’s missteps, nevertheless it speaks volumes that Google’s persevering with to make small enhancements. Previously, it wasn’t unusual to go months and even years with out important or minor Wear OS updates.

Right earlier than the Pixel Watch launched, Google SVP of {hardware} Rick Osterloh informed The Verge in an interview that the corporate was committing to wearables for the lengthy haul. Given Google’s historical past, that’s onerous to take at face worth. Splashy launches are simple, and also you want solely have a look at Google’s graveyard to see that.

But huge strikes aren’t what flip huge goals — like ambient computing — into actuality. Ask any marathoner: it’s the small steady efforts that matter most. These vacation updates won’t be the good issues ever, however that is likely to be an excellent signal. If Google cares sufficient about small “insignificant’” updates, perhaps its imaginative and prescient of wearable ambient computing isn’t so far-fetched in any case.