Android By Russell Holly May. 14, 2014 4:20 pm
In a move that is considerably more drastic than a simple upgrade, Samsung’s first smartwatch is about to ditch Android for another operating system entirely.
The original Galaxy Gear smartwatch did not do well. It was expensive, there were next to no apps available, and it would only work with a couple of Samsung devices. Samsung replaced it in nearly record time with the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit, abandoning Android for Tizen in the wearables market and creating a much better hardware profile.
What about those few Galaxy Gear owners, whose purchase was deemed a failure by the manufacturer? Apparently, they are going to get a whole new OS.
According to this video from SamMobile, the Galaxy Gear will lose its Galaxy and move on to the Tizen stylings we’ve seen on the Gear 2. While the original Gear lacks the physical button on the front, the hardware should be more than enough to handle Tizen and seems to do exactly that in the video. Of course this means that you lose all of your Galaxy Gear apps because Android isn’t Tizen, but you’ll be moving to a platform where there’s forward momentum and actual support from the new app developers. Hooray.
There’s still a lot that needs to be answered for here. It seems difficult to believe that there will be an over the air update to replace Android with Tizen. Samsung’s KIES software will likely be involved if this update is really going to happen, which historically has not been a great experience. Still, if you’re a Galaxy Gear user it has got to feel good knowing Samsung hasn’t totally abandoned you.
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The original Galaxy Gear smartwatch did not do well. It was expensive, there were next to no apps available, and it would only work with a couple of Samsung devices. Samsung replaced it in nearly record time with the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit, abandoning Android for Tizen in the wearables market and creating a much better hardware profile.
What about those few Galaxy Gear owners, whose purchase was deemed a failure by the manufacturer? Apparently, they are going to get a whole new OS.
According to this video from SamMobile, the Galaxy Gear will lose its Galaxy and move on to the Tizen stylings we’ve seen on the Gear 2. While the original Gear lacks the physical button on the front, the hardware should be more than enough to handle Tizen and seems to do exactly that in the video. Of course this means that you lose all of your Galaxy Gear apps because Android isn’t Tizen, but you’ll be moving to a platform where there’s forward momentum and actual support from the new app developers. Hooray.
There’s still a lot that needs to be answered for here. It seems difficult to believe that there will be an over the air update to replace Android with Tizen. Samsung’s KIES software will likely be involved if this update is really going to happen, which historically has not been a great experience. Still, if you’re a Galaxy Gear user it has got to feel good knowing Samsung hasn’t totally abandoned you.
More...
