Samsung Announces One UI Watch Interface, Unified Platform Built With Google
Updated: Aug 31, 2021
Samsung recently revealed that it will bring “an entirely new Galaxy Watch experience” with the introduction of its latest smartwatch user interface (UI).
Credit: Samsung
The new UI, One UI Watch, was first shown to the public during Mobile World Congress on 29 June 2021. It allows Android smartphone users to have a deeper integration between their phone and Samsung Galaxy smartwatch. According to Samsung Electronics EVP and Head of Customer Experience Office, Mobile Communications Business, Patrick Chomet, the new UI is the fruit of the company’s efforts of leveraging its long legacy of mobile innovations and its partnerships with industry leaders “to unlock the full potential of these wearables”.
For instance, if a user downloads a watch-compatible app on their Android smartphone, the same app will also be downloaded automatically to their smartwatch. Any phone calls or messages blocked on that user’s phone will also be blocked on their smartwatch.
The same is true for customisations and changes made on a user’s phone. A user who customised their clock app to show time in a city belonging to a different country will find that this change will be reflected on their smartwatch, too.
Samsung also said that it will bring an improved watch face design tool, giving watch face designers an easier time designing new watch faces. Android developers will also be able to create new watch faces for users to choose from and use for their smartwatch.
If you’re super excited for this, then stay tuned: more information about Samsung’s One UI Watch will be revealed later this summer.
This new UI will first come with the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, which is scheduled to be revealed at an Unpacked event in late Summer 2021. The Galaxy Watch 4 will also have the new, unified platform Samsung created in collaboration with Google. You may remember this same unified platform being mentioned during the Google I/O event on 18 May 2021.
In the event, Google mentioned that they are combining its smartwatch operating system (OS), Wear OS, and Samsung’s custom-made smartwatch OS, Tizen, into a unified platform capable of providing a longer battery life, faster performance, access to more smartwatch applications and a more seamless experience between the Galaxy Watch and Android smartphones.
Written by John Paul Joaquin