Samsung is rolling out Tizen 4 to the Samsung Gear S3 and Gear Sport smartwatches

The rest of the world may have forgotten about smartwatches, but Samsung has not, so far. The company is treating its customers to a new software update as it has begun rolling out Tizen 4 to the Samsung Gear S3 Classic, Gear S3 Frontier and Gear Sport smartwatches.

This new update comes with the version number R760XXU2DSA1/R760OXA2DSA1 for the Gear S3 and R600XXU1BSA1/R600OXA1BSA1/ for the Gear Sport, and is ~299MB in size. Notably, the software update bumps up the Tizen version on these watches to v4.0.0.2.

The official changelog of this update is as follows:

• Samsung Health – Support various indoor workouts and back-to-back workout.
• Samsung Health Widget – Samsung Health Widget now also supports and provides sleep stages information.
• Advanced – Two advanced modes (Theater, Sleep) are added to keep user from disturbance during specific time and place. Modes can be toggled from quick panel.
• Quick Panel – Newly added quick settings. Easier and faster interaction.
• Messages – Draft messages can now be saved. Additionally, showing MMS image on notification cover view and animated messages are automatically played. Replying is now quicker and easier. Over 1,000 emojis supported.
• Music – User can change to different music play source on Watch instead of using a Phone.
• Setting menu – Improved categorizing of menus for better discovery of features and items.

XDA Recognized Contributor linuxct also found a few other interesting changes on the Gear Sport which are not mentioned in the official changelog:

• Screenshots can now be taken by pressing and holding the power button and swiping the screen from left to right.
• New Permissions Management:
  • Similar to the permissions management system present in Android 6.0 Marshmallow, when you open an app that requires Storage or Microphone permission, the user is granted a prompt to allow or deny the request, instead of instantly granting it by default.
  • Permissions can now be managed from Settings > Apps > Permissions.
• Sliding down the Quick Settings menu is now much smoother.
• Another really awesome feature is the ability to read not just the most recent from your messaging apps, like before, but also being able to read any previous messages in a really nice chat bubble view (3rd image in gallery above).

The update is likely rolling out in a staged manner, so it should reach all devices sooner or later.

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Thanks to XDA Recognized Contributor linuxct for the tip on the Gear Sport!

Forum Thread: Tizen 4 for the Samsung Gear Sport Source for Gear S3: Geeknetic.es

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