We’ve been hearing rumors the past few days that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will not be running on Tizen OS like the past few smartwatches from the OEM. Instead, this one will go back to Google, specifically the Wear OS platform. This is now supposedly confirmed (although not officially) as well as the fact that there will be three variants of the wearable, including two sporty ones. These devices will supposedly be announced at the upcoming Unpacked event.
SAM Mobile says they can “exclusively confirm” that the upcoming Galaxy Watch 4 will indeed be running on Wear OS instead of Tizen. But it will be topped with One UI 3.1x, a new version of the UI exclusively for Samsung’s wearables. So this means there will not be a massive change in the look and feel of the new smartwatches, even though the OS will be different. The interface will be revamped though and will include new SmartThings features.
The Galaxy Watch 4 will reportedly have three variants and they are codenamed Wise, Fresh, and Lucky. Wise will be the traditional smartwatch with classic design elements including a rotating bezel ring. The other two are the “sporty” kind of smartwatches and one of them will be a Galaxy Watch Active model. One new feature which they may have is the ability to send short voice messages to friends. So basically you’ll use your smartwatch like a walkie talkie.
Other than that, there are no other details yet for the Galaxy Watch 4. The initial leak about the watches running on Wear OS instead of Tizen said that this is most likely due to the lack of third-party apps on the latter. The website also said the Galaxy Watch 4 will have 42mm and 46mm sizes with a “traditional watch design” while the Galaxy Watch Active4 will have 40mm and 42mm variants and show a “casual and simple design”.
There’s no confirmation yet as to when the Galaxy Watch 4 will be announced but it’s most likely alongside the unveiling of the new foldable smartphones. This may be sometime July or August so we’ll probably get more details soon.