When Samsung unveiled its new Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches, it revealed that it had dropped the Android operating system in favour of the new Tizen-based platform. Needless to say, early Galaxy Gear adopters were quick to start wondering what the move meant for Samsung’s first generation effort. Fortunately, there is good news coming out of Mobile World Congress: Samsung is planning to upgrade the first generation Galaxy Gear smartwatch to Tizen in a future update. Confirmation of the move was given by a Samsung spokesperson to TechRadar.
Specific details on how the update will work and when it will roll out have yet to be provided. Given the differences in hardware – for example, the Galaxy Gear does not have a heart monitor – not all the functionality of the new devices will be ported over. But the upgrade to Tizen should improve battery life, one of the biggest complaints about the Galaxy Gear.
The Samsung Galaxy Gear launched with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Despite the efficiencies and lower hardware requirements baked into Android 4.4 KitKat, Samsung has opted to go the route of Tizen to ensure that the Galaxy Gear gets a new lease on life and does not get left behind as the company focuses (gambles?) on Tizen for its wearables.
For those of you with Samsung Galaxy Gears, is this good news or bad news? Let us know below.
Source : TechRadar