Mobvoi will deliver Google and Samsung's 'Wear OS 3.0' update to the TicWatch Pro 3
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There aren't a lot of decent Wear OS-powered smartwatches on the market (at least not yet), and Fossil has basically buried about half of them by confirming the huge software update that Google and Samsung are co-developing will not reach any of the Group's existing devices.
While things aren't completely etched in stone yet, it sure looks like we'll eventually get our wish. According to an official Mobvoi customer support representative named Maggie, the company has "confirmed" that the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS will be "updated to Wear OS 3.0 in the future."
The US-based Fossil Group, mind you, is behind intelligent timepieces as diverse as the own-brand Gen 5 and Gen 5E, as well as the recently discounted Skagen Falster 3 and the very stylish Michael Kors Access collection. But possibly the best Wear OS device money can buy right now comes from a slightly lesser-known company called Mobvoi.
Thanks to Qualcomm's newer Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor, the 2020-released TicWatch Pro 3 is considerably faster than 2019's Fossil Gen 5 lineup and even 2021's Fossil Gen 5 LTE, both of which come powered by a Snapdragon 3100 SoC.
That made us hope Mobvoi would be able to do the right thing and continue updating the TicWatch Pro 3 even after Fossil started teasing its next big Apple Watch alternative to try to hide the most newsworthy part of its latest announcement.
Get the TicWatch Pro 3 at a $30 discount
While things aren't completely etched in stone yet, it sure looks like we'll eventually get our wish. According to an official Mobvoi customer support representative named Maggie, the company has "confirmed" that the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS will be "updated to Wear OS 3.0 in the future."
That OS version number has notably never been mentioned by Google (let alone Samsung) in its efforts to prepare and promote future improvements to the platform that showed so much promise... back when it was still dubbed Android Wear. Wear OS 2.0 saw daylight almost three whole years ago, in case you're wondering, with subsequent upgrades carrying numbers 2.2 through 2.9 and confusingly going back to 2.17 and 2.23 in recent months.
Clearly, it would make perfect sense for Big G to release its heftiest collection of Wear OS enhancements and tweaks as a 3.0 over-the-air update for the likes of the TicWatch Pro 3. By that, we mean just the TicWatch Pro 3, although one smartwatch brought up to date is still better than none.
Interestingly, if all the information "confirmed" by Mobvoi does indeed prove accurate (which is not guaranteed yet), Wear OS could ultimately retain its (already revised) name rather than being rebranded once again to Wear, as Google seemed to suggest last month.
Meanwhile, if for some reason you're not willing to wait for Samsung's first-ever Wear OS devices, Google's first-ever Pixel Watch, or Fossil's sixth-ever family of "premium" Apple Watch rivals, it might not be such a bad idea to order the GPS-only TicWatch Pro 3 right now. This is by no means the best smartwatch money can buy in 2021, but it could get a lot better in the relatively near future (if we are to believe Google and Samsung), and it just so happens to cost 30 bucks less than an already reasonable $300 list price on Amazon.
Before pulling the trigger, you should make sure you're not confusing this bad boy with the cheaper TicWatch Pro 4G LTE, which comes with standalone cellular connectivity for Verizon customers while packing a Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset and thus looking highly unlikely of ever receiving Wear OS 3.0 goodies.
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