Google claims that Wear OS 5, which will bring even improved battery life to Android wristwatch users, is almost here. For example, it is said that running a marathon will use 20% less battery life than with Wear OS 4.

Similar to the unveiling of Wear OS 4 last year, this emphasis on battery life makes sense. The Pixel Watch 2 was able to last all day using Wear OS 4, something the original model had trouble with. It appears that the longer battery life has won some favor. According to Google, the number of Wear OS users has increased by an astonishing 40% over the past year in 160 different countries and regions.

Of course, we’ll probably have to wait until the fall to find out how this longer battery life translates into actual use with Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Watch and the Pixel Watch 3. Wear OS updates usually arrive on Google’s and Samsung’s new devices first, before they reach older or third-party equipment.

Google also announced that watchfaces will be getting some upgrades in addition to longer battery life. The main point is that Google has introduced additional helpful complexities. This includes ones that allow you to see the weather, objective progress, and “weighted elements.” The likelihood of precipitation, temperature, UV index, and present circumstances are some examples of the weather problems. Weighted elements, on the other hand, seem to be a complicating factor for numerous datasets, similar to a pie chart, which makes sense for a health app that tracks multiple objectives during the day. Other updates included new rules for creating user interfaces (UI) for larger, round displays, all aimed at simplifying things for developers. Simpler methods for testing fitness aspects, such as auto-pause and resume exercise, were also offered.

Google’s Health Connect platform will also receive some updates in the health domain. For example, you will be able to retrieve data when an external application is operating in the background. You’ll be able to retrieve historical data going back more than 30 days.

Wear OS 5 will enable more complex running measures, such as ground contact duration, stride length, vertical oscillation, and vertical ratio, in terms of fitness features. These are fairly standard measures found on Polar and Garmin multisport watches, and Apple included them in watchOS 9.

A lot of this is things that other smartwatch manufacturers have long since mastered. Even while Google still needs to catch up, the fact that the gap is gradually narrowing is encouraging. The fact that Wear OS seems to be continuing to splinter is less promising. Google released Wear OS 4 last year ahead of Wear OS 3’s complete release to all users save Samsung and Google. Perhaps Wear OS 5 will bring about the same outcome. Although it would be great if all Wear OS watches received these upgrades on schedule, this is a good indication of what the Galaxy Watch 7 series and the Pixel Watch 3 may offer.