Can one rant about Wear OS here since it’s technically still Android?

When Samsung was making watches on Tizen, they released products like Frontier (boasting upto 3 day battery life), original Galaxy Watch (boasting upto 4 days battery life). Cue they switched to Wear OS with GW4 and with the 40mm variant, the battery life doggedly remained at a pathetic 1 day with AOD on.

Even with release of newer generations like Ultra, they are barely hitting 3 days with ~590mAh battery. Why is Wear OS such a battery hog?

I own a Galaxy Watch 6 and the watch OS uses like 6 GB storage and 1+ GB in perpetual RAM. Is it really so that displaying time and running couple of apps in the background takes more memory than GNOME 46?

  • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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    22 days ago

    Google is removing features from Fitbits so people have a reason to buy Wear devices. Running a bespoke OS they’re able to get 5+ days between charges and had (roughly) the functionality of Wear.

    Like another poster stated, Garmin seems like a better option.

    • kirk781@discuss.tchncs.deOP
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      22 days ago

      Yes, Wear OS is still behind Apple’s Watch OS, which essentially is the market leader(despite their watches sometimes having even shorter battery life).

      The original Pixel Watch barely lasted for a day for most users with AOD on. Atleast, the newer ones come in different size options(the larger one has a bigger battery) plus LTPO display. Still it is only a 2 day watch; not anywhere close to Fitbit or Garmin.