Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?
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@harboe said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
But in a year or so, I’d love to see a Suunto 8
I’ve always assumed they’d just call it something like the Suunto 7 gen 2. After all, they can’t exactly call a gen 3 the Suunto 9
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Qualcomm has now commented regarding 3.0 support, and I found their choice of wording interesting.
https://9to5google.com/2021/06/16/qualcomm-snapdragon-3100-wear-os-capable/
We are working with Google on bringing Wear OS 3.0 to Snapdragon Wear 4100+ and 4100 platforms. Snapdragon Wear 3100, 4100+ and 4100 platforms are capable of supporting Wear OS 3.0, but we are not discussing any specifics at this time.
Although they say that the Wear 3100 is capable, they only mention working with Google on the 4100 and 4100+.
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@aleksander-h said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
Qualcomm has now commented regarding 3.0 support, and I found their choice of wording interesting.
https://9to5google.com/2021/06/16/qualcomm-snapdragon-3100-wear-os-capable/
We are working with Google on bringing Wear OS 3.0 to Snapdragon Wear 4100+ and 4100 platforms. Snapdragon Wear 3100, 4100+ and 4100 platforms are capable of supporting Wear OS 3.0, but we are not discussing any specifics at this time.
Although they say that the Wear 3100 is capable, they only mention working with Google on the 4100 and 4100+.
That is most likely because Qualcomm can sell the 4100 and 4100+ for more money, thus it makes sense for them to encourage manufacturers towards these chips.
(Although that may just be the cynic in me!).In my opinion, Qualcomm are one of the chief architects behind the poor showing of WearOS so far. They have consistently produced underpowered chips on old technology that are not power efficient. They are at least 4-5 years (probably more) behind Apple in the chip department.
A slow and power hungry watch is never going to sell.(Yes, Google still take a large chunk of blame for not developing WearOS to it’s full potential or for forcing chip manufacturers to pull their fingers out. I also blame hardware manufacturers (like Fossil, Mobvoi, and others) for churning out a contestant stream of low quality low value WearOS devices they have no intention of supporting longer than 5 minutes. This does not encourage hardware or software development and ensure the consumer sees WearOS as a low quality system. I wish more people could see just what WearOS is capable off with devices such as the Suunto 7 (and here Sunnto needs to take some blame for not advertising it well enough)).
Just my thoughts.
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@olymay said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
and here Sunnto needs to take some blame for not advertising it well enough
I actually saw quite a bit of marketing for the S7 here in Oslo, Norway.
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@aleksander-h said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
@olymay said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
and here Sunnto needs to take some blame for not advertising it well enough
I actually saw quite a bit of marketing for the S7 here in Oslo, Norway.
Zero advertising for it here in the UK. And I bet the same can be said for the US?
I only discovered it because I am a tech geek and was doing heavy research before buying a new WearOS device.In fact, I have never seen a single Suunto advert (for anything) here in the UK (apart from targeted adds online, but they don’t count), yet I see adverts for Garmin, Apple, and Samsung everywhere - and it’s no surprise that these are the top sellers…
(I know advertising isn’t everything, but it really does help with brand awareness) -
@olymay absolutely agree with you on this.
When I came across the S7 it was completely by accident, and had been looking for a replacement for my watch for 3 months. At that point the S7 had been around for 5 months.If you talk to a lot of Americans they don’t even know what/who suunto is, unfortunately it isn’t well know outside the enduro, hardcore, ultra set - its better in most of Europe, but still not great.
I think its great that the S7 has started to open those doors for Suunto, who can hopefully take advantage of it.
Read a really interesting article that suggested that Suunto could become the brand as they have the whole of China open to them (for obvious reasons Garmin has issues in this market).
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@jamie-bg exactly the same. After a few months of research I was almost convinced that the only way I would get a watch with the fitness features I wanted was to buy a Garmin - loads of friends had them said they are great (I’ve no doubt they are good) but I was worried about losing the smartwatch features I had become used to. Not to mention the Garmin line up is a confusing mess!!
I remembered a story about the Suunto 7 launching at CES and eventually found some more information on it and it turned out to be exactly what I was after.
But I only found it through being a massive geek and doing obsessive research.Suunto is not well known in the UK at all (some of my friends know them for their dive computers but that is it) and most people have never heard of them.
All of the tech website have a ‘Top Smartwatch’ or ‘Best WearOS device’ etc and NONE of them mention the S7. It is dominated by Fossil, TicWatch, and Samsung.
I think Suunto are missing a massive trick by advertising more widely (although I do appreciate that costs a lot of money!).
Back to the WearOS 3 subject…
(what follows is just my opinion and is based on nothing more than my thoughts, my feelings, and what I would like to see, please be kind…)Do I think the S7 will get the update to WearOS 3?? Honestly, no. And I don’t think it should.
The S7 is now coming up to 18 months old. I believe Suunto should focus on a new S7 (S7 Peak? S7 Ultra? S7 Mega?) for launch end of 2021 (just in time for Christmas!).
The WearOS market is more rapidly evolving than the fitness watch market and hardware development is accelerating way more quickly.
Whilst something like the S9 or a Garmin F6 can be around for years and still be considered top of their game, the WearOS crown quickly see something more than a few months old as last years news and obsolete.
Many manufactures release at least one new model every year, sometimes more (except for Fossil who release a new model every time the weather changes!).With this new WearOS announcement from Google and Samsung, there will soon be a flood of new devices to the market. Many of them will have the SD4100 chipset, others will have something newer.
The S7 is running the SD3100 which was launched in September 2018, which means it turns THREE YEARS OLD in three months.I see lots of high praise for the S7 on places such as Reddit, but most of it gets shot down due the old chipset, with most people saying the TWP3 is the default best WearOS device as it runs the 4100.
This is the crown Suunto are trying to win over and they need to act fast.
I’m not suggesting they release a new model every year (in fact I hope they don’t!) but now is a great time to ride the wave of the WearOS hype, get a new chipset inside (preferably something newer and better than the 4100 too) and get some advertising out there (Google even used the S7 during the WearOS announcement at I/O, c’mon Suunto, shout about that!!).I honestly believe the S7 is head and shoulders the best WearOS device on the market (at least for me) and with a new model with upgraded hardware (and for the love all that is good in the world ADD BT SENSOR SUPPORT!), the new WearOS, and some decent advertising, then they could really make some great strides into this market.
(an update every two years would probably sit about right i feel).Sorry for the essay, I got s bit carried away…
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@olymay https://the5krunner.com/2021/06/17/qualcomm-confirms-widespread-platform-support-for-wear-os-3/
qualcomm “yes, 3100 can support wear os 3”. So if Suunto wants, S7 can support it. AFAIK
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@jorgefd78 said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
@olymay https://the5krunner.com/2021/06/17/qualcomm-confirms-widespread-platform-support-for-wear-os-3/
qualcomm “yes, 3100 can support wear os 3”. So if Suunto wants, S7 can support it. AFAIK
This is true.
However…
There is a world of difference between ‘can support’ and ‘can run well’.
There are many WearOS devices out there right now running the 3100 chip (or older) with just 512MB of RAM and on WearOS HMR2 yet the run like like an arthritic sloth wading through treacle.
The exact quote from Qualcomm is:
“We are working with Google on bringing Wear OS 3.0 to Snapdragon Wear 4100+ and 4100 platforms. Snapdragon Wear 3100, 4100+, and 4100 are capable of supporting Wear OS 3.0, but we are not discussing any specifics at this time.”
This implies to me that whilst the 3100 CAN support WearOS 3, Qualcomm don’t seem to be interested in making it happen.
Who knows…?..?..? -
@olymay The “3100 can support 3.x” is what I’m focusing at as well. I’d hate to get a new update, just to make the watch run worse. I’m very happy, as started before, as it is now. Rather they just get 2.x as stable as possible. But if 3.x could run as well and bring new features, I of course wouldn’t complain.
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@harboe said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
@olymay The “3100 can support 3.x” is what I’m focusing at as well. I’d hate to get a new update, just to make the watch run worse. I’m very happy, as started before, as it is now. Rather they just get 2.x as stable as possible. But if 3.x could run as well and bring new features, I of course wouldn’t complain.
Yeah, I agree 100%. Suunto have done an amazing job with the S7 to get running really well with bags of features and a stellar battery life. If the upgrade to v3.x were to affect that then I would rather stay at v2.x
That being said, I am squirrelling some cash away just in case a newer S7 does get released later this year or early next year. There is nothing wrong with my current model, but I’m a gadget geek who likes shiny things!
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@olymay said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
That being said, I am squirrelling some cash away just in case a newer S7 does get released later this year or early next year. There is nothing wrong with my current model, but I’m a gadget geek who likes shiny things!
I’ll probably hang on to mine untill the battery no longer holds a full day. Hoping that means around four years from day of purchase.
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@aleksander-h said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
@olymay said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
That being said, I am squirrelling some cash away just in case a newer S7 does get released later this year or early next year. There is nothing wrong with my current model, but I’m a gadget geek who likes shiny things!
I’ll probably hang on to mine untill the battery no longer holds a full day. Hoping that means around four years from day of purchase.
As long as the battery holds up I’ve no doubt the S7 will easily last that long (and knowing Suunto it will still be getting software updates too!).
My problem is I have GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and am always upgrading my gear. I do sell my old stuff on and avoid throwing things away though, to at least try and minimise my environmental impact.
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Or is it the opposite !? The 4100 does not have a coprocessor and currently incompatible with wear os 3. 0 …
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@deltof said in Will Suunto 7 get WearOS 3.0?:
Or is it the opposite !? The 4100 does not have a coprocessor and currently incompatible with wear os 3. 0 …
Both Qualcomm and Google have confirmed the 4100 (and the 4100+ and 3100) is compatible with WerOS 3.0
But who knows…?
Suunto 7 Graphite Copper
Suunto App Beta (Android - Pixel 6 Pro) -
In short, not all low-end smartWatchers manufacturers invest in software.
Suunto releases a product and makes it evolve with updates.
The Google suunto link is strong.
I Suunto was the first with hmr2, there will be wear os 3 on the suunto 7 peak at minimum -
@olymay you obviously haven’t seen the Google announcement which basically told Qualcomm to shut up and they couldn’t know whether it would support or not…
Personally I think Qualcomm is correct (they are possibly going on S7 being already able to do a lot of what has been discussed and that the API’s are still Wear OS API). I think Google’s announcement was more about trying to ensure that the Samsung launch is successful. How many people are going to go straight out in launch month to buy a new wear os Samsung for +$300 (note google and samsung have already said wear 3.0 will be premium only hardware), if they know there is potential possibilty for their current watch to be upgraded, especially as a lot have only had their watch approx 1 year.
Should Suunto launch a new model - much more difficult answer. I think that if they can they should update the S7 (depending on effort - it already does what Wear 3.0 will do as long as you use the suunto app) - I think of the benefit re customer loyalty and showing the rest Suunto cares about their customers. However I also agree that a S7 Peak/S8 (personally I think Suunto should create a new line i.e. W7 - to designate is a Smartwatch first, fitness second), and should be with the Samsung chip as you just know its going to improve battery life and be better integrated than the 4100.
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@jamie-bg i did see that post from Google (although after my other posts on here).
I’m inclined to believe a bit of both of them, but also think that they are both covering their own backsides.
Yes, it is likely that the 3100, 4100, and 4100+ can run WearOS 3. But will they run it well?
If a watch runs it badly then it will damage the reputation of the OS and the hardware. In fact, WearOS 3 could be dead on arrival if too many devices run it badly.
Obviously Google wants as many devices as possible to run it, but they want, no, they NEED it to run perfectly. This is likely their last chance to take on the Apple Watch and if all of the initial reviews are that it runs like a dog then it’s game over.
Consumers won’t take into consideration that the hardware is old, they will see the headlines that WearOS 3 is slow and that will be it.
Qualcomm however, don’t care two hoots about WearOS (i think that have become obvious over the years). All they care about it selling chips, saving reputation, and saying they are market leaders. So if their older chips are no longer supported then it hurts them as a company.
Qualcomm would put WearOS 3 on every chip they ever made if they thought it would benefit them, but sod the customer, as long as it makes them money.Google want (and again, NEED) WearOS to run perfectly, so they should be pushing for it on only the absolute best hardware.
As good as the 3100 is and as good a job Suunto have done with it (which they really have!), it is old, slow and power hungry. There is no point having the amazing Suunto App if the OS underneath it is running slow due to the hardware.
IF (and it’s a big if) the 3100 can run WearOS 3 well then I would expect Suunto to support the S7 for quite a while yet.
However, if it runs with even the slightest lag then Suunto need to keep the S7 on WearOS 2 and get a new model out ASAP.As I mentioned before, the average consumer already considers the TWP3 better than the S7 purely based on it having the 4100 (despite there being no notable improvement in having that chip).
The S7 is already over 18 months old, so is long in the tooth in the tech world. I personally think a 2 year cycle for something like this is perfect, as it allows each iteration to have noticeable improvements and ensures support from manufacturer.
However if Suunto are too late to the WearOS 3 party then they could lose out on sales.A newer S7 (whatever it may be called) with Samsung silicone, better battery life, reduced bezel, lighter, slimmer, etc with still the Suunto smarts inside (and with continued updates) could be the WearOS device to beat and with proper advertising (and a sensible price unlike the S7 at launch!) could take a serious chunk of the market.
Just my thoughts for this wet and soggy British morning
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