Wear OS Weekly
My new weekly column focuses on the state of Wear OS, from new developments and updates to the most recent apps and options we wish to spotlight.
Gemini is probably going coming to Wear OS watches, however the particulars are obscure at finest. We do not know when it’s going to arrive, whether or not instruments like Gemini Live and app extensions will work, how Gemini’s solutions will look on tiny watch screens, and whether or not all of the processing would require your telephone available.
With the appropriate solutions to those uncertainties, Google may give Wear OS customers an actual pleasure increase with Gemini smarts. Major Pixel 9 gross sales progress proves that Gemini advertising is engaged on shoppers, and getting AI insights together with your telephone in your pocket will enchantment to many.
But Google Gemini is not only one service: It’s a label utilized to completely different capabilities and ranges of intelligence, assorted based mostly on whether or not it is cloud- or device-based. Wear OS’s model of the assistant/chatbot would considerably differ from what your Pixel 9 Pro or laptop computer provides, for instance.
So, what is going to Gemini on Wear OS do otherwise than Assistant? Or, at the very least, what do I hope Gemini will do otherwise? Let’s dive in.
What little we learn about Gemini on Wear OS
9to5Google found the Gemini references in Google app beta code, with the language “Easily discuss forwards and backwards to get extra achieved with an assistant in your watch, reimagined with Google AI” describing the wearable app.
The website additionally discovered references to Gemini being summonable by the identical strategies as Assistant: Using the “Hey Google” phrase or holding down the Pixel Watch 3’s facet button. You can safely assume that Google will maintain its always-listening choice for Gemini, too, although it will burn via battery life sooner.
Google confirmed in November that the Pixel Watch collection’ subsequent Wear OS replace could be in March. Wear OS updates normally arrive month-to-month with minor modifications, so why is the Watch 3 caught with its September launch software program? Perhaps as a result of Google wanted six months to get Gemini prepared in wearable type, pushing different updates to the again burner.
If not March, we may see Gemini arrive alongside the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 or Pixel Watch 4, each of which ought to launch with Wear OS 6 in late summer season. Google specifically will in all probability have new SoC {hardware} by then; Qualcomm’s VP of wearables Dino Bekis instructed me their 2025 Wear chip could have “extra on-device AI functionality.”
Gemini Nano, the transportable model of Google’s AI, nonetheless requires a telephone’s neural processing unit for edge duties like summarizing an e mail or transcribing conversations. So it is seemingly that some Gemini on-watch instruments will probably be unique to the most recent fashions, whereas older Wear OS watches with decade-old Cortex cores must rely solely in your telephone and cloud computing.
What Gemini may convey to Wear OS watches
The most blatant Gemini Wear OS utility is to allow on-wrist conversations, such as you get with Gemini Live, or just extra clever solutions to questions. The leaked language “discuss forwards and backwards” positive appears to indicate an precise dialog, which supplies me hope that you’ll have in-depth discussions with remembered context till you might have the reply you want.
The greatest hurdle is that the majority Gemini solutions take about 10–15 seconds in the event that they require pulling up data — in comparison with 4-ish seconds for easier questions — and phone-to-watch Bluetooth communication might add a further delay. Google Assistant has gotten sooner at on-device solutions, however Gemini will really feel like a step backward for velocity — even when it is a step ahead for readability.
The second hurdle is the dimensions of the display. Gemini spits out a ton of data to any query or immediate to supply sufficient context (see the picture above). Ask your Wear OS watch the identical query, and you will have to scroll via much more tiny textual content or stand and await Gemini to learn all the pieces out loud for a few minutes.
The subsequent potential Gemini utility on Wear OS is to work with Gemini extensions. Imagine with the ability to immediate Gemini out of your wrist to summarize your unread emails, create a brand new YouTube Music playlist based mostly in your temper, or inform you about close by 4-star lunch spots by way of Maps. Your telephone would do all of the work, however it could stay in your pocket.
Google started integrating Gemini and Google Home final yr, and it is exhausting to say that Gemini is any higher than Assistant was at controlling your sensible dwelling tech, barring a couple of minor perks like summarizing who got here to your door by way of Nest Doorbell. But any future improvements will probably be Gemini-exclusive, so Wear OS homeowners with sensible houses will profit in the long term.
Then, in fact, you might have Gems, or the customizable and specialised variations of Gemini constructed for particular duties like taking part in chess or serving as a “working coach.” Google itself gave that instance, and it appears apropos for this dialogue: it might be good to have the ability to choose a selected model of Gemini within the Wear OS tile so you possibly can prime it to ship solutions particular to no matter you care about, like how far or exhausting it is best to run that day.
Beyond these apparent Gemini functions on Wear OS, I’d have an interest to see if the app’s picture technology instruments may very well be put to make use of for watch face creation. Imagine if you happen to may use Imagen 3 to create an XML-compatible face cropped to your display’s proportions in lower than a minute.
Gemini may additionally show helpful for locating new Wear OS apps, which is usually a ache to search out within the on-watch Play Store. You may ask the assistant to suggest a couple of choices for various classes (e.g., health, climate, productiveness, and so on.) and summarize their variations and strengths.
The most blatant Gemini utility is well being and health
If it is not obvious from the listing above, I’m hopeful about Gemini on Wear OS, but in addition skeptical that Google can ship a transformative Gemini assistant expertise with light-weight {hardware} and a tiny display. I’m able to be proved fallacious, however I do not know if smartwatches can help sufficient tokens to supply the context needed for clever solutions. So I’m anticipating delayed solutions and a major battery drain whereas utilizing Gemini for lengthy conversations. We’ll discover out quickly!
I may see Gemini proving extra helpful within the backend. If Google makes use of Gemini to research your Fitbit outcomes upon request — ideally whereas preserving your information privateness — that would present helpful insights in your present well being, current health or sleep developments, and so forth. It may then spotlight the important thing AI insights in your Morning Brief.
On the health facet, Google already recommends each day runs to Pixel Watch 3 customers based mostly on their coaching load. In principle, a Gemini Coach may take issues to the following degree and analyze post-run outcomes (like Strava’s Athlete Intelligence) or broaden past working and suggest health club exercise routines, for instance.
Google may even present these insights throughout an exercise; you could possibly say, “Hey Google, how am I doing?” and have it inform you that you simply’re on PR tempo or that your coronary heart charge is just too elevated over your wi-fi earbuds.”
