❤ Samsung re-releases its internet browser for Wear OS smartwatches
Smartwatches are capable of a lot, but you’ll often find that most apps on Wear OS and other platforms focus on simplifying data. Last year, Samsung launched a full-fledged web browser for Wear OS that mysteriously disappeared, but now, it’s back.
Samsung Internet launched on Wear OS in 2021 following the launch of the Galaxy Watch 4. In time, the app expanded to all Wear OS smartwatches.
But as SamMobile points out, the app disappeared from the Play Store for a while. The removal seems to have happened about a week ago, with a recent update possibly having caused someissues with the browsers for some users.
Whatever the cause of the removal, Samsung appears to have launched its browser back to the Play Store for Wear OS owners to download. The browser remains available both to Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and 5 devices, as well as smartwatches from other brands, even on Wear OS 2. The Pixel Watch is also compatible.
The Wear OS app market has been in a bit of flux over the past few months, with some mysterious removals and changes. Google Maps and Google Keep, for instance, briefly broke support for Wear OS 2 smartwatches before quickly reinstating support days later. Many newer apps are also launching solely with support for Wear OS 3 which is only available on select smartwatches.
Samsung Internet is the only well-known web browser for Wear OS. Last week, however, it disappeared from the Play Store, leaving people with no option to install a reputed web browser on their smartwatch. Fortunately, Samsung’s web browser for Wear OS is now back on the Play Store. But why did Samsung remove it in the first place?
Well, Samsung hasn’t provided any details why it did that. Did the company remove the web browser from Play Store because it was coming up with a new version of the app? Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case, as the app that’s back on the Play Store is unchanged from the one that was removed from the platform. Maybe it was removed by mistake from the company’s end.
With the launch of the Galaxy Watch 4, Samsung ditched Tizen for its smartwatches in favor of Wear OS. Soon after that, it launched Samsung Internet for the platform. Due to the lack of other web browsers for Wear OS, such as Google Chrome, Samsung Internet has been the only well-known internet browser on the platform.
Initially, Samsung Internet was available only for Samsung’s smartwatches. Later, the company made it available for Wear OS smartwatches from other brands as well. Although it is nowhere as feature-packed as the one for your smartphone or tablet, it at least allows you to browse the web from less than an arm’s length away, literally!
If you own a Wear OS 3-powered Samsung Galaxy Watch or any other Wear OS 3 smartwatch, then you are in for a treat. Google is rolling out updated notes feed for the Google Keep app. Recently, Google Keep picked up three new tiles for sunset, sunrise, and favorite contacts. Also, the Material You makeover was pushed for the app back in September.
Now, with the new update, Google is bringing a richer experience to the notes feed. The first thing that you will notice after installing the latest version of the Google Keep app on your Wear OS 3 smartwatch is the background color or preset image. The Google Keep app will show a reflection of the image that you have set in the phone app. This means no longer boring gray color within the app.
The color of the cards also now reflects the background or preset image you have previously selected in the phone app, though they are a bit subtle. You will see if something was edited, any collaborations, and labels that you have applied to your notes right at the bottom before the Add reminder, Pin, and Archive actions.
That’s not all. The Google Keep for Wear OS 3 also gets an updated text preview feature. You will now get three to four lines instead of just two, allowing you to read a larger part of the notes. However, because of this, you would need to scroll down to see more notes.
Google is rolling out the new updated Google Keep notes feed feature with the app version 5.22.482.00.97 for Wear OS 3 watches, including the Samsung Galaxy Watches. Do note that the new update isn’t widely rolling out yet, but you should keep an eye out on the Play Store. Also, images are broken in this release and do not get previewed in the main feed. Google could resolve this issue before the public rollout.
