Samsung have only made the one Android Wear watch, the Gear Live, as shown above. This was quite some time ago, back in 2014, and though it reviewed relatively well, it was a first generation Android Wear device, and thus fairly clunky and unappealing. Samsung’s focus more recently has been on its own Tizen range of smartwatches (I’ve got a Gear S Classic, and I like it), which are kind of fancy, but not quite as well integrated as Android Wear. They just feel a bit clunky.
Anyway, there were reports earlier this week that Samsung might have given up on Android Wear completely. We didn’t initially report those, because we thought — like everyone else — “well duh”. There are many others in the Android Wear space now, and some of them are making some damned appealing watches. Even traditional watchmakers are getting in on Android Wear now.
It seems Samsung isn’t actually done with Android Wear, with a company rep issuing a very luke-warm shoot-down:
“We disagree with Fast Company’s interpretation. Samsung has not made any announcement concerning Android Wear and we have not changed our commitment to any of our platforms.”
There’s a number of ways this could be interpreted, but I like this one: by not having changed their commitment to any platform, Samsung’s commitment to Android Wear remains the same as it was prior to the supposed announcement earlier this week. What is that commitment? Almost none; Samsung’s eggs are clearly in the Tizen basket for the time being.
Will we see a new Samsung Android Wear device? I kind of hope we do; they’ve clearly learned a thing or two about design in the Gear S2 and Classic ranges, and while the software is a bit clunky, Android Wear would make that watch so much better. Let’s see if Android Wear 2.0 is enough to tempt them back.
