Samsung just unveiled the new Galaxy Z-series foldables and the Galaxy Watch 5 at its latest Unpacked event. Besides announcing all this new hardware, we also got to learn a little about the software powering these devices. That includes not just what they'll ship with, but features currently in development — and Google was happy to lend a hand, talking about its plans to bring offline Maps navigation and a redesigned Play Store to Wear OS.

Samsung's new Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Pro arrive running the new One UI Watch 4.5 skin on top of Wear OS 3.5. Although Samsung does a lot in trying to enhance the experience on its own devices, the Play Store on its watches is as rudimentary as on any, featuring drab text labels for navigation. But that won't be the case for long, and Google shares that the experience on your smartwatch is getting a makeover sometime later this year, replete with sections for trending apps and custom recommendations (via 9to5 Google). We're also expecting a graphical overhaul, with colorful new menu items adding some liveliness to the UI.

Bjørn-Kilburn-Play-store-redesign-wear-OS
Source: Samsung

Google’s Play Store user interface showcase on Wear OS during Galaxy Unpacked 2022

The other big news is the Google Maps navigation experience on Wear OS picking up the ability to operate without an active connection to your phone. That sounds fantastic for times you'd rather leave your phone at home, but are still interested in exploring new areas. Like the enhanced Play Store, this functionality should be arriving sometime later in 2022. You can watch Google’s segment at Galaxy Unpacked below:

Finally, Wear OS should be getting some new media options, with support for SoundCloud and Deezer set to arrive sometime later this year — complete with offline support. While this news all arrives as part of Samsung's latest launches, the upcoming improvements should make Wear OS better for everyone with compatible watches — not just for Samsung and its customers.