Samsung will drop its own Tizen OS in favor of Google’s Wear OS for the upcoming Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Active. Moving to the Google Platform will allow the new smartwatch access to a much wider ecosystem of third-party apps, giving users more options. While there have been rumors of the Watch 4 being on Wear OS, we now know that the Watch 4 Active will also use the Google OS.
With the Google I/O developer’s conference taking place next week, we expect to see more news on the Wear OS platform, including an announcement of new hardware. We already know that third-party developers will now be able to create custom tiles to display and have seen the new Gboard typing system brought to the OS.
Opening up the Galaxy Watch 4 / 4 Active to this new OS gives the watch lots of new potential. With Fitbit now Google-owned, enhanced sports features could aid the Watch 4 Active but it might also be the reason why one anticipated feature won’t be included in the Galaxy Watch 4.
According to the original report by 9to5 Google, the Galaxy Watch 4 had been expected to include a blood glucose sensor – something that is also expected to appear on next year’s Apple Watch – but it now looks like that won’t happen.
Glucose monitors are used by people with diabetes to monitor the glucose levels in their blood. This is normally done through a finger-prick blood test or more recently through continuous monitors that sit on the skin with a tiny cannular inserted. However, a new sensor, small enough to sit on the underside of a smart watch is able to measure glucose by beaming light through the skin.
With the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Active not expected to launch until August, we still have a while to wait until we see the final product. Chances are though, we will discover more before then.
