Yeah, you guessed it: The best Wear OS feature that’s still missing on the Galaxy Watch 4 is Google Assistant, that’s the feature I’m talking about. There’s not a lot to be said here, because I’ve already complained about it before, but I’d say it’s time to start complaining again.
When we first heard about Samsung switching to Wear OS for the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, we were both disappointed and excited at the same time. Disappointed because we were worried we’d be losing the excellent battery life we’ve come to expect on Samsung’s smartwatches over the years, but excited that we’d finally be able to have access to the vast app library that Wear OS and anything based on Android enjoys compared to Samsung’s Tizen platform.
How hard could it be, Samsung?
Naturally, we had expected Google Assistant, that one voice assistant that everyone in the world actually wants to be able to use, would be an option on the new watches, as well. But almost four months later, we’re still limited to Bixby on our Galaxy Watch 4s and Galaxy Watch 4 Classics, and no one knows why.
And it’s not like Google Assistant is a health feature, like ECG or blood pressure monitoring, that needs to be approved locally in each country before it can be activated on the watch. Those health features continue to be absent for Galaxy Watch customers in many parts of the world, and given how slow governments can be in providing regulatory approvals, we can’t exactly put all the blame on Samsung.
Perhaps Google Assistant not being available on the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic isn’t Samsung’s fault, either. Perhaps Google is the one holding things up. But considering Samsung and Google worked on developing the new Wear OS 3 platform together, we should have had Google Assistant on the Watch 4 on day one. But here we are, four months later, and Bixby’s all you got.
Will Google Assistant arrive on the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic before the end of the year? We don’t know. Does Samsung even plan on bringing it to its smartwatches anymore?
