On August 11, Samsung will hold its traditional Unpacked event in which, despite the permanent leaks, several novelties are expected. Among many, the presentation of the new family of Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatches stands out. But beyond the devices themselves, it is expected to finally see the new version of WearOS in action. The merger of Google's operating system with Tizen will come with several innovations, and one of them would be the support for multiple virtual assistants .
According to 9to5Google, WearOS would not force users to exclusively interact with the Google Assistant. Apparently, the software would allow to select between third-party alternatives ; The supposed integration with Samsung's Bixby is specifically mentioned, but the door would be left open to other similar technologies. It is logical to think that they could not be executed simultaneously, but that one would have to choose between one or the other.
The big question regarding this hypothetical feature is how the availability of virtual assistants would vary between different brands that adopt WearOS. In the specific case of Bixby, it is reasonable that it has some kind of presence in the new Galaxy Watch 4. After all, it could be a key part for greater integration with the rest of the devices in the Samsung ecosystem.
WearOS would not limit users to interacting with the Google Assistant
After the rumor emerged about a possible integration with third-party virtual assistants, 9to5Google began to dig into the guts of WearOS. This is how they came across the package com.google.android.wearable.alternate_assistant , which would point out that Google would, indeed, work on supporting alternative assistants.
If this is confirmed, it could open an interesting path to add more features to smartwatches that adopt the new operating system. Clearly, today there are much more complete and attractive variants than Bixby that could be well used.
So, it is worth asking: Would there be possibilities of seeing Alexa in a future smartwatch with WearOS? Today it is impossible to know but, taking into account that Amazon technology is already present in Fitbit devices , it would not be strange that soon the jump to the renewed Google software.
