The beginning of the end?

[Graham Nind]

Today I got this message on my Suunto 7.
“Google Assistant support on this watch is ending soon. Please upgrade to a newer watch that supports Google Assistant and runs Wear OS 3 or later.”

Now I don’t use GA much but I did wonder if other things will also stop working? If so then it’s a shame because in many ways it’s a great watch. My brother-in-law has an Apple Watch 4 which is much older but works well and is still getting many of the recent upgrades.

[EzioAuditore]

@Graham-Nind I guess the blame here is more on Google than Suunto. It was Google’s decision to stop updating WearOS on older HW (by older I mean sudden stop). And in my experience you cannot compare Android/Wear to Apple’s. Apple develops its own HW and controls the SW update: much better but more expensive (same is with their phones: Apple updates 5-6 gens in the past Google only 2-3). Pity really cause they ‘stuck’ a lot of companies in the unknown with their WearOS (Fossil, Suunto, etc.)

[Graham Nind]

@Hristijan-Petreski I think you’re right. It’s Google’s fault. They have a history of randomly dropping features which many found useful. Makes people reluctant to buy Wear OS devices.

[Brad_Olwin]

@Graham-Nind Interesting, I just charged and updated my S7 on a new phone and have no such notice. The difference is I have an iPhone and Google probably does not care enough to update WearOS on iOS.

[Graham Nind]

@Brad_Olwin Did you check for updates in the Play Store on the watch? As far as I know it shouldn’t make any difference whether you have an iOS or Android phone. It’s the watch itself that gets updated.