Huawei opens: Smartwatch owners get more choice
Huawei smartwatches have so far been captivating primarily with their design and long service life. When it comes to app selection, on the other hand, the smart watches of the Apple Watch and Android Smartwatches have to admit defeat. However, that could change in the future.
Anyone who owns an Android smartphone and wants to buy a smartwatch is spoiled for choice: Although watches with Google’s Wear OS offer a wide range of apps, they often mess up when it comes to battery life. Smartwatches from Huawei or Samsung, on the other hand, last longer, but cannot keep up with the range of apps offered by the competition. Huawei now wants to close this gap.
Huawei smartwatches receive support for third-party apps
In Huawei’s AppGallery it is now possible for developers to equip their applications with companion apps for Huawei smartwatches. Huawei opens its own smartwatches to third-party apps. The start here is the “Fitify” workout app, like GSMarena reported. On the app overview page in the AppGallery, a small icon now indicates that the sports application is also running on the Huawei Watch:
Opening up to third-party providers is a huge step. If LiteOS, the name of Huawei’s smartwatch operating system, attracts enough developers, owners of a Huawei smartwatch could get a significantly larger selection of apps in the future. That should also cause sales of the watches to skyrocket, which the electronics giant should use due to the collapsing smartphone sales.
Keep your eyes open when buying a smartwatch:
Not a sure-fire success for Huawei
A look at Samsung, however, reveals that there can be a wide gap between hope and reality. Tizen, an operating system that has been open to third-party providers for years, runs on the South Koreans’ smartwatches. Nevertheless, Galaxy smartwatches also have to struggle with a small selection of apps – that although Samsung sells more smartwatches than Huawei and the incentive for developers to port their apps is likely to be greater. Therefore the switch to Wear OS could be pending now. The opening of Huawei smartwatches will not be a sure-fire success.
