Galaxy Watch Studio v2.0.0 Released
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By Samsung Newsroom
Smartwatches have become a part of our daily lives, combining functionality and style in one compact device. With Samsung's Watch Face Studio (WFS), designers can create unique watch faces that are customized to their requirements. Dynamic weather features, which display real-time updates and forecasts on the watch face, are particularly appealing.
This article covers WFS’s weather features, their uses, and how to create useful weather-themed watch faces. You can create a watch face using weather data as art.
This article introduces the following weather features which enhance watch face design:
Weather forecast The last time the weather was updated in ICU format Weather tags You can follow the examples in this article by downloading the sample project from here.
Forecast for the next few hours and days
Weather information becomes more valuable when presented in a way that is easy to read at a glance. Using weather tags, WFS enables you to easily incorporate forecasts for the coming hours and days.
Hourly forecast
The forecastHours(index, text) tag can be used to show hourly weather updates. One of the two pieces of information that the forecastHours tag collects is an index that takes a number starting at 1 for the following hour. Thus, by setting the index, you can set the data for the next few hours.
The text part uses five distinct weather tags:
• Temperature
• Time of day
• Weather condition
• Weather condition name
• Weather data available
Use the forecastHours tag with the weather condition, time, and temperature to offer users a short-term forecast of what to expect throughout the day. Tiny weather icons (like Sunny: ☀️, Rainy: 🌧️, and Snow: ❄️) can be used as bitmaps portraying the current weather conditions and the corresponding temperatures.
Forecast hours for icon
You can set the weather icon for the upcoming hour by following these steps:
Create a text component. Use this forecast tag on the text: forecastHours (1, "COND") Choose the Bitmap Font to use icons for the forecastHours (). Select images for the appropriate weather conditions. NoteYou need to create the icons, using any design tool, for your project.
5. Set the font size to 40. Figure 1: Setting the font size
NoteOnly a few icons are used in this article for certain conditions; the clear condition icon is used for all other conditions.
Include 10-15 on the CUSTOM tab since weather condition has values up to 15. Figure 2: Bitmap font setting
Forecast hours for temperature
You can now adjust the temperature by using the forecastHours() tag. You may display the temperature (positive or negative) for the upcoming hour and the temperature unit in degrees by following these steps:
Consider a text element. To display the temperature in degrees, use forecastHours(1,"TEM")° Choose the temperature unit (([WTHR_TEM_UNIT] == 1)? "C": "F")
The full tag expression looks like this:
(forecastHours(1, "TEM"))°(([WTHR_TEM_UNIT] == 1)? "C": "F"))
To display the weather forecast for the next hour, just change the index value to 2. Availability of weather data
For every forecast tag, you need to check if the data is available with this tag: (forecastHours(X, "IS_AVAIL")).
In the sample project, for every forecast group, the corresponding weather tag is used for checking its availability. The following tag expression is used for the next hour’s forecast:
((forecastHours(1, "IS_AVAIL")) - 1) * 100
Figure 3: Tag expression for checking availability of weather data
Daily forecast
You can incorporate daily weather forecasts into watch face designs using the forecastDays() tag. Customized indices (for example, 1 for tomorrow) make it simple to portray multi-day weather trends. WFS lets you show the weather conditions for a certain day, including high and low temperatures using forecastDays(index, "TEM_HIGH") for highest temperature and forecastDays(index, "TEM_LOW") for lowest temperature.
The later parts of the sample project show the weather predictions for tomorrow.
WFS uses the forecastDays(1,"TEM_HIGH") tag to show the temperature for the following day’s high and forecastDays(1,"TEM_LOW") tag for the next day’s low.
For the high and low temperatures tomorrow, use the following tag expression:
(forecastDays(1,"TEM_HIGH"))° ~ (forecastDays(1,"TEM_LOW"))°(([WTHR_TEM_UNIT] == 1)? "C": "F")
You can apply a similar tag expression for the forecast for the days after tomorrow by changing the index value.
Last weather update (ICU format)
This watch face example incorporates the most current update time to reassure customers that the weather information is recent. Weather data should be updated often to remain accurate.
WFS offers the most recent weather update in the ICU format. To add the most recent weather update time in ICU format, follow these steps:
From the component list, get the ICU date and time. Figure 4: ICU date and time
To customize the ICU date and time, select the PROPERTIES tab. Choose the ICU Format as HH: MM from the DATE AND TIME section. Set the Local Calendar to Gregorian and the Time Zone to Sync with Device. Select Last Updated Time (Weather) as the Time Source. Figure 5: Date and Time
Other weather tags
Current weather condition for icon
You can use the bitmap font for the current weather condition since it is already prepared for forecastHours(). Use the [WTHR_COND] tag, which provides the current weather, and choose bitmap as the font setting.
Current temperature
Use the [WTHR_TEM] tag to show the current temperature. The current temperature is obtained with the following tag expression, which also sets the temperature unit:
[WTHR_TEM]°(([WTHR_TEM_UNIT] == 1)? "C": "F")
Today’s highest and lowest temperatures
You can display the highest and lowest temperatures of the day by using the tags [WTHR_DAY_TEM_HIGH]) for the highest temperature and [WTHR_DAY_TEM_LOW] for the lowest temperature. The highest and lowest temperatures for today are listed below, based on the forecastDays() tag expression for the highest and lowest temperatures for the following day:
([WTHR_DAY_TEM_HIGH])° ~ ([WTHR_DAY_TEM_LOW])°(([WTHR_TEM_UNIT] == 1)? "C": "F")
Summary
Smartwatches offering weather forecasts are useful and engaging. With WFS, designers can use advanced tags like forecastDays(), forecastHours(), and last update time to deliver real-time weather updates, daily forecasts, and information such as high and low temperatures. Because they provide information at a glance, smartwatch faces are practical and attractive.
If you have questions or need help with the information presented in this article, you can share your queries on the Samsung Developers Forum. You can also contact us directly for more specialized support through the Samsung Developer Support Portal.
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By Samsung Newsroom
The Samsung Galaxy Watch is an essential gadget for modern health-conscious people. It provides health-related data that helps to prevent health issues. These Galaxy Watch features are driving its rapid rise in popularity and encouraging application developers to create applications specifically for it.
The Galaxy Watch offers a great user experience and performance. This is where the Flutter framework plays a crucial role. It is a top choice when it comes to a beautiful UI, good performance, and rapid development. Flutter offers cross-platform support, which means we can build applications for multiple platforms using a single code base. With Flutter’s strong community support, developers can make production-grade applications with little effort.
This blog outlines the steps involved in creating an application for the Galaxy Watch using Flutter, allowing you to explore the possibilities it offers.
Set up your environment
Please follow the official Set up Flutter guide to install the Flutter framework correctly on your device. After the installation, please check the status by running the following command. It tells you if any component is missing or suggests what to do next.
flutter doctor NoteIf the above command provides suggestions or fixes, follow those to solve any problems before continuing. Get started with Flutter projects
To simplify this application example, we are retrieving the battery levels from a Galaxy Watch to make it easy to understand the development process.
In this blog, we use Android Studio as the IDE. But, if you are comfortable with VS Code, you can follow this Official Codelab to build your first Flutter application with that instead.
To start, install the Flutter and Dart plugins on Android Studio. These plugins make it easier to manage Flutter development using the UI instead of the CLI.
Figure 1: Install Flutter and Dart plugins
After completing the setup, it is time to create the Flutter Project for Galaxy Watch.
Go to File > New > New Flutter Project. Note that this method only appears if you installed the plugins mentioned above. Select Flutter from the left side panel and set the Flutter SDK path where it was installed during the Flutter setup, and click the Next button. Enter a project name and location, and choose the language according to your preferences. Uncheck all platform options except Android and keep the other options as they are. Click the Create button, and a new window should open with the project. You are now done. Next, we need to modify the code for Galaxy Watch.
Break down the elements of a Flutter project
A simple Flutter project for the Android platform contains the following folders:
android/: Contains Android platform code and configurations. lib/: The main folder for a Flutter application. It contains your Dart code. The main.dart file is the entry point of a Flutter application. pubspec.yaml: A configuration file for Flutter. It manages the application’s dependencies and assets. Configure the project to support Galaxy Watch
Let’s modify the generated code to include the battery level, allowing it to be displayed. Open the pubspec.yaml file and add the following plugins under dependencies:
dependencies: flutter: sdk: flutter wear: ^1.1.0 battery_plus: ^6.0.3 We use the wear and battery_plus plugins for this project. The wear plugin provides APIs for wear-related functionality, and battery_plus is for accessing battery information from the OS. Both plugins were developed by the Flutter Community. You can even get battery information or trigger Wear OS native APIs using the Method Channel, which we will cover in our future blogs.
Change the value of minSdk to 23, which is required for the plugins that we are using. Go to android > app > build.gradle and change the minSdk property value under defaultConfig.
defaultConfig { applicationId = "com.example.flutter_app" minSdk = 23 targetSdk = flutter.targetSdkVersion versionCode = flutterVersionCode.toInteger() versionName = flutterVersionName } Add the following code to your AndroidManifest.xml file, above the <application> tag. This tag defines that we are building the application for watches.
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.type.watch" /> <application android:label="galaxy_watch_battery_info" Build the watch application
The main challenge is crafting your application to fit a tiny screen. We must be aware of good practices regarding UI, UX, and compactness at the same time. But as mentioned, this application is a simple one.
Here we work with the build function of the MyHomePage class, where the UI implementation is applied. The main() function is the starting point for a Flutter application. It triggers the build function sequentially. Refer to the following build method for an example.
@override Widget build(BuildContext context) { return MaterialApp( title: 'Galaxy Watch Demo', theme: ThemeData( visualDensity: VisualDensity.compact, useMaterial3: true, colorSchemeSeed: const Color(0x9f4376f8), ), home: Scaffold( body: SafeArea( child: _getWatchView(context), ), ), ); } The widgets we use are:
MaterialApp: The root widget that contains all the contents of the application UI and provides application functionalities like home, theming, navigations, localizations, and so on. Scaffold: It provides a visual layout structure for an application, which has options like an app bar and body. SafeArea: A widget that encircles its child to ensure it avoids overlap with the OS interface. Tailor the UI
We can now access the WatchShape widget since we converted our application to a watch application. WatchShape is the key widget for watch UI design. It provides the basic interface shapes for watches along with ambient modes of the watch. As mentioned earlier, the UI has a simple button that queries the battery level and shows it in a dialog.
Widget _getWatchView(BuildContext context) { return WatchShape( builder: (BuildContext context, WearShape shape, Widget? child) { return Center( child: Column( mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center, crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.center, children: [const Text("Hello from Galaxy Watch"), ElevatedButton(onPressed: () { _battery.batteryLevel.then((batteryLevel) { showDialog<void>(context: context, builder: (_) => AlertDialog( content: Text('Battery: $batteryLevel%'), actions: <Widget>[ TextButton( onPressed: () { Navigator.pop(context); }, child: const Text('OK'), ) ])); }); }, child: const Text('Get battery level'))]) ); }, ); } The widgets we use are:
WatchShape: This widget makes the UI compact to fit the watch’s small screen. battery.batteryLevel: To access the battery information, we need to create an instance of the Battery class. Please refer to the following code as an example. final Battery _battery = Battery(); Test the application
Now it’s time to see how your application works. Save all the changes and run the application by clicking the Run button from the “Main Toolbar.” You should see a new UI titled “Hello from Galaxy Watch” with a single button. You have created a Flutter application for a Galaxy Watch. Congratulations!
Figure 2: Sample application
Conclusion
This blog walked you through building an application for Galaxy Watch. Flutter offers an amazing toolkit for crafting beautiful UIs. Within a short time you can build applications on a device to accomplish what you want.
Don’t forget to experiment with building applications and enjoy the journey of creating something new for Galaxy Watches. For more tips and tricks on Galaxy Watch application development, please keep your eyes on the Samsung Developer portal.
View the full blog at its source
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By Samsung Newsroom
A sensor's maximum and minimum values are crucial for calibration, data interpretation, threshold setting, user interface, error handling, sensor selection, and performance optimization.
Understanding the expected range of values helps identify and handle sensor errors or anomalies, and selecting the right sensor for the intended use case is essential. Efficient use of sensor data, especially in resource-constrained environments like mobile devices, can optimize data processing algorithms.
The maximum and minimum values of sensors play a crucial role in the accurate and efficient functioning of sensor-based applications across various domains. In this tutorial, a wearable application is developed to collect the maximum and minimum ranges of sensors from a Galaxy Watch running Wear OS powered by Samsung. This tutorial shows how to retrieve all sensor ranges together, as well as from one specific sensor separately.
Environment
Android Studio IDE is used for developing the Wear OS application. In this tutorial, Java is used, but Kotlin can also be used.
Let’s get started
The SensorManager library is used here to collect sensor data from a Galaxy Watch running Wear OS powered by Samsung.
Retrieve the maximum range of a sensor
To get access and retrieve the maximum ranges from the sensor:
In Android Studio, create a wearable application project by selecting New Project > Wear OS > Blank Activity > Finish. To access the sensor, add the body sensor in the application’s “manifests” file.
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BODY_SENSORS" /> To run the application on devices with Android version 6 (API level 23) or later, you need runtime permission from the user to use the BODY_SENSORS APIs.
Add the following code snippet to the onCreate() method before calling any sensor operations:
if (checkSelfPermission(Manifest.permission.BODY_SENSORS) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) { requestPermissions(new String[]{Manifest.permission.BODY_SENSORS}, 1); } else { Log.d("TAG___", "ALREADY GRANTED"); } After this code executes, a pop-up window appears and requests permission from the user. The sensor APIs return values only if the user grants permission. The application asks for permission only the first time it is run. Once the user grants permission, the application can access the sensors.
Figure 1: Permission screen
More details about runtime permissions can be found here.
Create an instance of the SensorManager library before using it in the code.
private SensorManager sensorManager; sensorManager = (SensorManager)getSystemService(Context.SENSOR_SERVICE); To retrieve the maximum range of all sensors, create a sensor list using API Sensor.TYPE_ALL.
List<Sensor> sensors = sensorManager.getSensorList(Sensor.TYPE_ALL); ArrayList<String> arrayList = new ArrayList<String>(); for (Sensor sensor : sensors) { if (sensor != null) { arrayList.add(sensor.getName()); arrayList.add(sensor.getMaximumRange() + ""); arrayList.add(sensor.getResolution() + ""); } } arrayList.forEach((n) -> System.*out*.println(n)); The above code shows the sensor name, maximum range, and resolution. You can get all the available data from the sensors, such as type, vendor, version, resolution, maximum range, and power consumption, by applying this same approach.
Remember, sensor information may vary from device to device.
Additionally, not every sensor that appears in the logcat view is accessible. Third-party applications are still not allowed to access Samsung's private sensors using the Android SensorManager. You get a “null” value if you try to access the private sensors.
Moreover, there are no plans to make these sensors available to the public in the near future.
You can check my blog Check Which Sensor You Can Use in Galaxy Watch Running Wear OS Powered by Samsung to find out which sensors are accessible on your Galaxy Watch and which are not.
Retrieve the minimum range of a sensor
The minimum range is the complement of maximum range.
If the maximum range is x, then the minimum range can be calculated like this: x*(-1) = -x.
If a specific sensor value should always be absolute, then the minimum range is zero (0).
There is no direct API available to retrieve the minimum range of sensors from Galaxy Watch.
Get a specific sensor value
To get specific sensor values from a Galaxy Watch, you can filter the sensor list or use the getDefaultSensor() method. Here is an example that demonstrates how to do this. Add the necessary permission in the “manifests” file for the accelerometer sensor:
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.sensor.accelerometer" /> Use the following code in your Activity or Fragment to retrieve the accelerometer data:
sensor = sensorManager.getDefaultSensor(Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER); if (sensor != null) { textView_maxV.setText(textView_maxV.getText() + "" + sensor.getMaximumRange() + ""); textView_resolution.setText(textView_resolution.getText() + "" + sensor.getResolution() + ""); } Ensure you have added the TextView element to your XML file. Output of the above code:
Figure 2: Maximum range and resolution of the accelerometer
Remember, sensor ranges may vary from device to device. You may get different values for different Galaxy Watch models.
Download the example from this blog:
SensorMinxMax (313.2KB) Sep 10, 2024 Summary
This article demonstrates how you can retrieve the maximum and minimum ranges of sensors from your Galaxy Watch running Wear OS powered by Samsung. You can also use the above approaches to get other necessary available information from the watch that can be used for the precise and effective operation of sensor-based applications in a variety of fields.
If you have any questions about or need help with the information in this article, you can reach out to us on the Samsung Developers Forum or contact us through Developer Support.
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