Hello everyone and welcome to the channel. Today I would like to talk about where OS 5.1. After using this update for a while, I found some great hidden features that no one else is talking about. So let me show you what I got. First, I'm filming this video in my secondary studio, so the quality is not as good as expected, but I think it gets the job done.
And the first thing you need to do to confirm that your watch got W OS 5.1 is to head over to settings, scroll all the way down, then system, then go to about. And here you will find the W OS version 5.1. And here when you tap on versions, you will find the build number as shown now on the screen. The first change I want to show you is the new camera remote shortcut that appears over the watch face every time you open the camera on your paired phone.
So, when I open it here on my Pixel 9 Pro XL, you'll notice that I got this shortcut that looks similar to the media controls shortcut when you play media on your phone. Tapping on it like this will immediately take you to the camera app on your watch. So, you can start controlling it remotely. And instead of going to the apps list and then locate the camera app yourself, now every time you open the camera, you will find the shortcut immediately showing.
I also noticed two new changes when it comes to the tiles. The first one is the new app icon that appears at the top to let you know which one it relates to and the second change is related to the heart rate time. You will note here that the readings are now presented in 1 hour intervals. And you will see the lowest and the highest heart rate readings during this period. As shown here on the screen, the lowest number is in white color while the highest number is in blue.
And if you didn't wear your watch during this interval, it will be presented with a blank space. Google also added a brand new feature called force global always on display. If you use Pixel watches, you definitely came across this feature. If you have an app on the screen, once the screen times out, you will get this blurred clock view that you need to tap on to get back to the app. But now you have the ability to force the always on display to to show the last app instead of the blurred clock view. And you can achieve this by going to the settings. And then make sure you have the developer options enabled, which can be achieved by going to system and then about and then versions.
And then keep tapping the build number few times until it activates the developer options under the main settings menu that you can find over here. And then scroll all the way down until you until you find force global always on display experience. Turn on the switch. And now let's get back to the same app and let the screen time out. And as you see I have the same app showing on the screen. What I do like about this feature is it works with the stopwatch and timers. So, for example, if you have something like this running, when the screen times out, you still can see what's going on. So, it's not just a static screen. Moving to the settings now, you will see three new changes. The first one is related to the accent color. You'll notice here that all the toggles are now using a gray or slightly purple color instead of the yellow color like before.
The second change is the addition of the new modes menu. When you go inside here, you will find the do not disturb, bedtime, and theater mode, but it doesn't show any of the custom modes you create under the modes feature on your phone. So hopefully we will see this feature coming in the future. The third change is when you go to Google and then scroll down a bit. Now you will find that Google password manager is now available on the W OS 5.1 which will make signing into apps much easier. And when it comes to Gemini, it seems like Google is pushing the new assistant to where OS very soon because I started to see it in more places.
For example, when you boot your Pixel Watch now, you'll see this new Gemini animation, same as Pixel phones. The second place is when I receive phone calls. In this example, you will see the Gemini glyph icon showing over the ellipses button. And when I tap on it, it doesn't do anything different, but it seems like Google is working on something. Let me also show you some visual tweaks here and there. And the first one is related to the active watch face. When it goes to the always on display, now the numbers are solid instead of outlined with a border around the container. I also think that the animations and the crown scrolling are now slightly better than before.
For example, when I go under settings and jump between pages, the animation and the scrolling are a bit more refined. The system font also got updated from Robboto to Google Sands, which looks slightly better in my opinion. So, these are all the new features I wanted to show you in W OS 5.1. Other than this, I didn't spot any differences when it comes to the battery performance and bugs. My Pixel Watch 3 performs exactly the same way and there's nothing major that I came across. So, please let me know in the comments if I missed anything. But for now, thanks so much for watching and see you.
