Hardware Is Hard

Peter Ludwig, product manager for Android Wear, nine days ago:

No more worrying about Bluetooth or Wi-Fi — your watch will automatically switch to a cellular connection when you’re out of range. As long as your watch and phone are connected to a cellular network, you’ll be able to use your watch to send and receive messages, track fitness, get answers from Google, and run your favorite apps. And yes, you’ll even be able to make and take calls right from your watch, for when your hands are full, or your phone is elsewhere.

The first Android Wear watch with cellular support is the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE.

LG, today:

We understand that you are currently reviewing our latest smartwatch; however, late in the quality assurance process for the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE, our engineers were made aware of a hardware issue which affects the day-to-day functionality of the device. After further investigation, the decision was made to cancel the rollout of the Urbane 2nd Edition LTE due to the complicated nature of the issue.

Whether the device will be available in the future will be decided at a later time. For now, our top priority is to ensure that only products that meet our very specific quality standards are available for purchase.

★ Friday, 20 November 2015