Google says Pixel Watch to get 3 years of updates, announces Pixel Buds Pro new EQ feature

Google has confirmed that the Pixel Watch will get three years of updates. The American tech giant 2021 revamped its Wear OS operating system, called Wear OS 3, which the company developed in collaboration with Fitbit. The company has also announced a much-anticipated feature for the Pixel Buds Pro.

Wear OS 3 is running on a handful of smartwatches including the Galaxy Watch 5, Watch 5 Pro, and Google’s own Pixel Watch. Wired recently spoke to Björn Kilburn, Google's director of product management for Wear OS, to get a better idea of where the platform is headed.

Kilburn said that unlike Wear OS 2, watch manufacturers were responsible for over-the-air updates in Wear OS 3. For example, the new Google Pixel Watch will get three years of software updates, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 gets four years of updates, the report said.

Apple offered four years of updates with its Watch Series 3.

The report said this does open Wear OS to fragmentation—a massive problem with Android phones—where billions of older devices are not able to access the latest version of the operating system, causing potential security risks.

Google also confirmed a new feature for the Pixel Buds Pro (Review). The company's newest premium true wireless earbuds are getting a much-needed five-band customisable EQ. As we said in our Pixel Buds Pro review, the custom EQ was the only thing missing on the new earbuds.

Google’s custom EQ feature is rolling out to users and could take around a week to reach all users. You will need to be on version 1.0.474476083 of the Pixel Buds app to access the new EQ feature. With the update, the Pixel Buds Pro will offer a five-band custom EQ as well as six preset options tuned by Google’s engineers.