Smartwatches are actually over 25 years outdated, however simply over a decade in the past, Apple helped kickstart the present smartwatch trade with the launch of the unique Apple Watch. From a give attention to health to a number of apps and kooky watch faces, early smartwatches bore little resemblance to the present finest smartwatches with which we’re now accustomed.
The one drawback with the Apple Watch is that it was, and nonetheless is, unique to the iPhone. To reply this and capitalize on the demand for smartwatches from Android customers, Google and its companions developed an Android-powered different. After many iterations, Put on OS was born, however it nonetheless faces a number of challenges a few years later.
To deal with these wants, corporations corresponding to OnePlus have turned to RTOS (Actual-Time Working System), a specialised sort of working system that’s good for low-power duties the place precision is required, corresponding to timekeeping. Nevertheless, is RTOS the reply to Google’s Put on OS woes? Let’s have a look.
The important thing advantages of RTOS
RTOS has been round for a very long time. Lengthy earlier than its purposes within the smartwatch house, it has been powering a spread of gadgets and applied sciences that you just’ve possible benefited from. These embody gadgets corresponding to pacemakers for the center, flight ticket reserving platforms, and even RADAR.
Smartwatches that run RTOS are technically utilizing a platform known as FreeRTOS. It’s designed to allow the execution of a selected set of options on a single chipset with restricted reminiscence, and it doesn’t eat a big quantity of energy to take action. Crucially, it affords a quick expertise and lets you make the most of a number of superior options, corresponding to coronary heart charge monitoring, with out requiring a big battery or a strong chipset.
RTOS-based platforms have lengthy been utilized in sensible gadgets that don’t run Put on OS, corresponding to smartwatches from Amazefit or Xiaomi, or a number of the finest health trackers. The precision of the OS means it’s preferrred for options corresponding to coronary heart charge monitoring, however it comes with a key draw back in comparison with Put on OS.
How Put on OS is healthier than RTOS
RTOS affords quite a few advantages to customers and watchmakers, however there’s one main draw back: restricted app help. Which means that the end-user is on the mercy of the corporate’s interpretation of health apps, options, and watch faces, and it additionally makes it a lot tougher to modify platforms with out shedding knowledge.
Compared, Put on OS takes all of this away from the machine maker and as a substitute ensures continuity between totally different gadgets operating the identical platform. You have got entry to a variety of Put on OS-compatible apps, and your knowledge stays with you as you turn gadgets.
Very like your Android telephone, Put on OS helps each main app and incorporates a devoted part inside the Google Play Retailer. It’s designed to be a platform that powers each sensible machine, however given the necessity for a small battery in most wearable gadgets, it does so at the price of energy and effectivity.
The 2 competing implementations of RTOS
Some corporations are totally dedicated to the Put on OS platform. Samsung has lengthy since deserted its objectives of creating its Tizen-based OS in favor of partnering with Google on Put on OS, whereas quite a few third events are additionally creating a number of the finest Android smartwatches.
Nevertheless, corporations like OnePlus and Motorola have demonstrated that RTOS is usually a viable different for smartwatches, the place battery life and effectivity are extra essential than superior options. Because of this, we have now two totally different implementations of RTOS that each deliver the identical advantages.
Motorola has simply introduced its new Moto Watch Match smartwatch, which runs solely on the RTOS platform. Which means the corporate needed to develop a health app in-house, in addition to a number of apps that replicate the core performance of Put on OS. In the meantime, OnePlus introduced the OnePlus Watch 3 earlier this 12 months, which mixes RTOS and Put on OS right into a single machine by way of its progressive dual-architecture method.
Crucially, each gadgets capitalize on the advantages of RTOS, however just one minimizes the potential downsides of RTOS.
Is RTOS the reply to Google’s Put on OS woes?
Constructing a smartwatch with superior health options isn’t simple. As Google continues to develop the performance inside Put on OS, it additionally implies that fashionable Android smartwatches require even bigger batteries. Sadly, this implies corporations should resolve between massive batteries, small shows, a excessive worth, or a thick smartwatch, and a compromise in any space ends in a subpar wearable expertise.
It’s not stunning that corporations have turned to RTOS, however might or not it’s the reply to the important thing Put on OS issues? The largest problem is battery life, however whereas the Moto Watch Match affords 16 days of battery life, it doesn’t present the advantages of Put on OS. As an alternative, Google ought to contemplate OnePlus and its dual-architecture method.
The OnePlus Watch 3 seamlessly switches between the RTOS platform for all low-power duties and Put on OS for extra superior options. The result’s the perfect of each worlds, and a battery that lasts as much as 4 occasions so long as Google’s personal Pixel Watch 3.
If Put on OS is to supply a aggressive challenger to the Apple Watch, it wants to resolve the important thing issues. The OnePlus Watch 3 demonstrates {that a} dual-architecture method with RTOS may very well be the answer, but when not, we’ll possible see extra RTOS watches and fewer Put on OS watches sooner or later.