Samsung Brings One UI And Battery Upgrades To Galaxy, Gear Watches – Digital Trends

Samsung has announced a software update for the Galaxy Watch, Gear Sport, and Gear S3 smartwatch lineup that will not only bring the new One UI interface first seen on the Galaxy Watch Active, but it will also deliver battery life enhancements, as well as improved health and fitness features.
The latest software update, available now, adds Samsung’s One UI, a simplified and colorful interface unveiled last year, and until now, available only on the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active model. One UI is designed to ease navigation and decrease watch face clutter for more intuitive operation. Simplified visual settings let you more easily customize and control the watch. It’s the same design theme as the interface on Samsung’s latest smartphones, so Samsung’s wearables and phones will feel and look more unified.
The updated interface also features new advanced settings, including enabling and disabling Touch wake-up, controlling the frequency and timing of Daily briefing updates, and a more flexible Goodnight mode control. New watch faces that were only available for the Galaxy Watch Active are also now available for these three models from the Galaxy Store.
The update also adds better battery optimization — the watches will automatically close apps operating in the background to prevent battery drain. You can also customize battery saving settings, such as by adjusting brightness and screen timeout for better performance.
Alongside the interface updates, Samsung is enhancing health and fitness features too. There’s now a Daily Activities screen, which shows a daily summary of calories, movement, and workouts. Workout tracking has been streamlined, making it faster and easier to select both on the widget and in Samsung’s Health app. And data is now continuously synced from watch to the paired smartphone for easy tracking — including a new tracker for outdoor swimming, which is available only on the Galaxy Watch. You’ll also see more vibrant animations accompanying the achievement of goals.
For the Galaxy Watch, Samsung has improved heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking, too. A High Heart Rate Alert pings you if your heart rate exceeds a set level, while the sleep tracker update shows the wearer’s average sleep range compared with others in an age group.
Samsung said the update rollout for each product will vary by region, so the new features may not be available for all watches everywhere at the same time.
Galaxy Watch 6 Classic (left) and Galaxy Watch 6 (right) Andrew Martonik / Digital Trends
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 is one of the best smartwatches that you can buy right now, especially if you’re using a Galaxy smartphone. But as good as it is, there’s also no denying how much of an iterative update it was over the Galaxy Watch 5. It’s about time we see some bigger changes to Samsung’s smartwatch family.
The OnePlus Watch 2 — the company’s first Wear OS watch — has entered a market that Samsung dominates. However, OnePlus’ popularity as a smartphone brand can be expected to bring small, yet meaningful changes that benefit not only OnePlus users, but all of the Wear OS segment in general.
For almost a decade, Samsung and Apple have predominantly been the default options if you want a smartwatch that is actually useful and goes beyond flashy features. With Samsung shifting gears and migrating from its own Tizen OS to the (relatively) more universal Wear OS platform and Google releasing its own Pixel Watch after struggling with an identity crisis in the smartwatch world, the platform has much more traction than it did a few years ago. As OnePlus carves its way into the segment, it has the opportunity to entice people who don’t wish to live within Samsung’s limitations when using a Galaxy Watch with another brand’s phone.
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 is a popular choice for a smart watch, available in both regular and classic forms. The bright, vibrant display and improved battery life to keep going all day offer an enticing option, even making for a tempting upgrade from the Galaxy Watch 4 or Galaxy Watch 5.
However, before you buy a smart watch there’s always the sticky question of phone operating system compatibility. To be useful, you need to link your smart watch to your smart phone — but not every option for smart watch software plays nice with every phone OS. Samsung’s smart watch options work happily with Android devices, but if you’re hoping to use a newer Samsung smart watch with your iPhone then you’ll run into some problems. Essentially, the newer versions of the Galaxy Watch aren’t compatible with iOS, so they’re not going to work with your iPhone.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 does not work with iPhones
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