UPDATE: 05/25/2023 09:00 EST BY ROLAND UDVARLAKI
We updated this post with the new Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 smartwatch, powered by the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chipset and Wear OS 3.
The Google Pixel Watch is an excellent example of how a modern Wear OS smartwatch should function. The watch features fast and smooth animations, and the user experience is phenomenal, despite the watch’s low one-day battery life. Fortunately, there are many great smartwatches, many of which already support Wear OS 3, and a handful of Wear OS 3.5 smartwatches from Samsung that offer a similar, if not a better, experience for some users. Here, we collected the best smartwatches that have already received the latest Wear OS 3.0, and 3.5 updates, and the watches which are scheduled to receive the update sometime later this year.
What is Wear OS 3.0?
Wear OS 3.0 is one of the biggest update in Google’s smartwatch operating system. Wear OS 3 offers significant upgrades and improvements over previous versions of Android Wear platform. One of the key improvements is the faster app loading times, improved battery life, new animations, and a completely redesigned user interface. The platform enhances the overall experience, and drastically revamps it in an attempt to make the new smartwatches last longer, and become a more pleasant experience.
What’s the difference between Wear OS 3.0 and Wear OS 3.5?
Wear OS 3.5 improves on the already fantastic Wear OS 3 experience with further enhancements and optimizations to make the experience more fluid. There are many enhancements under the hood that also enable more accurate tracking when doing fitness activities and sports, heart rate tracking, and more. There are also more and better third-party apps that allow fitness tracking, all while the core experience has largely remained the same from Wear OS 3.
It’s worth noting that not every feature on Wear OS 3.5 is available to every smartwatch, and there are other visual differences when comparing the likes of Pixel smartwatches and Galaxy watches. Samsung uses its custom One UI Watch interface, a skin on top of Wear OS 3.5. Needless to say, Samsung has added a few additional features and settings, specific to Samsung phones, and Google also added additional tracking information behind the Fitbit paywall.
Wear OS 3 smartwatches
- Montblanc Summit 3
- Fossil Gen 6
- Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition
- Michael Kors Gen 6
- Skagen Falster Gen 6
- Razer x Fossil Gen 6
- Diesel Griffed Gen 6
- Tag Heuer Connected Calibre E4
- Citizen CZ Smart Gen 2
- Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5
Fossil was one of the fastest companies to update its existing Gen 6 lineup of smartwatches to Wear OS 3. The company also went on to update its other Gen 6 smartwatches, including the watches from Michael Kors, Skagen, the special Wellness Edition, and the exclusive Razer X Fossil smartwatch. Citizen also unveiled its Citizen CZ Smart Gen 2 smartwatch in April 2023, and the new watch will come with Wear OS 3, and it’ll become available to purchase from May 1, 2023.
Montblanc also unveiled its new luxury, $1,290 Summit 3 smartwatch that came pre-installed with Wear OS 3.0 from day one. The Summit 3 was the first non-Samsung smartwatch to be announced with the new update. The watch also has limited support for iPhone and iOS users, but it lacks key features such as Google Assistant.
-
Fossil Gen 6
The Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch comes with Wear OS and a Qualcomm 4100+ chipset. The watch can track activity goals, SPO2, sleep, and many more. It has a 3ATM waterproof design, and it has a fast charge feature to keep you on the go.
-
Skagen Falster Gen 6
The Skagen Falster Gen 6 smartwatch is among the first devices to support the latest Wear OS 3 platform. It’s equipped with the Qualcomm 4100+ chipset, and it can track activity goals, steps, sleep, heart ratio, blood oxygen and more. It also has GPS, and it supports contactless payments.
-
Michael Kors Access Gen 6
$340.99 $425 Save $84.01
The Michael Kors Gen 6 smartwatch runs Wear OS 3, and it comes with all of the must-have features that you expect from a fashionable smartwatch. It can track your heart rate, blood oxygen, and there’s also GPS and contactless payment built-in.
-
Diesel Griffed Gen 6
$297.5 $350 Save $52.5
The Diesel Griffed Gen 6 runs Wear OS 3, and it’s powered by the Snapdragon 4100+ chipset. It can automatically track activity goals, and help you measure sleep, heart rate, blood oxygen, GPS, and other fitness activities. It has a speaker, and an always-on display feature.
-
Razer x Fossil Gen 6
The Razer x Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch recently received the anticipated Wear OS 3 update. The watch is powered by the Snapdragon 4100+ chip, and it has a 1.28-inch AMOLED display. It has all the fitness features you can expect from such a smartwatch, and it has unique Razer aesthetics to help finish the look.
-
Montblanc Summit 3
The Montblanc Summit 3 smartwatch is a luxury item, and it comes with Wear OS 3. It features an elegant titanium chassis, and it’s polished by hand for a luxurious finish. It’s lightweight, durable, and comes with similar features to other competitive smartwatches.
-
Citizen CZ Smart (gen 2)
Citizen’s latest smartwatch features Wear OS 3 and comes with the NASA technology to help you evaluate your activity and alertness. It’s available in different styles, and it’s a unique smartwatch.
-
Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5
The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 smartwatch is powered by the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chipset and Wear OS 3. It can last for up to 80 hours on a single charge, and it has 5ATM water protection, many built-in sports tracking features, NFC for contactless payments, and the same dual-screen technology that extends the battery life further.
Wear OS 3.5 smartwatches
- Google Pixel Watch
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 & 5 Pro
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 & 4 Classic
The list of compatible Wear OS 3.5 smartwatches is very small. As you can see, Samsung is still dominating the list with its excellent Galaxy Watch 4 series and Galaxy Watch 5 series of smartwatches. Google also joined the race with its own Pixel Watch, which has since been awarded by Pocketnow as one the best smartwatches in 2022.
In case you can’t decide between the Galaxy Watch 5 and the Pixel Watch, or the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro vs Pixel Watch, we recommend you check out our guides that go in-depth, comparing the features, design, and performance.
Existing Mobvoi smartwatches
TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra
- TicWatch Pro 3 GPS/LTE
- TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra
- TicWatch E3
Mobvoi initially promised the Wear OS 3.0 update for its entire TicWatch Pro 3 series, and the E3-series of smartwatches by the end of 2022. After months of silence, the company finally shared that it would update its TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra, TicWatch Pro 3, and TicWatch E3 smartwatches later in 2023. The reason for the delay is reportedly caused by the company’s proprietary display, which may have provided a less-than-ideal experience during the testing period. It’s unclear when exactly we will see an update, but at least we now have a new timeline to follow.
On December 22, 2022, the company announced its new subscription program, which lets users receive more insight into their health activities and sleep functions for $2.99 per month. This is very similar to Google’s Fitbit subscription system, and we’ll likely see similar paid programs on other smartwatches in the near future.
What to expect in 2023?
Alongside the usual quality-of-life improvements, we expect Google to make further optimizations to the platform and introduce new features that users have been asking for. We would also love to see new improvements made to the entire platform, and more focus on switching between Android devices, and transferring the watch contents to other devices easier.
During Google I/O 2023, Google shared some details of the upcoming Wear OS 4 update, coming to smartwatches in the future. The new update will focus on resolving long-standing issues, such as battery life, performance issues, and the inability to restore wearables without making a factory reset first.
