Tech devices generally progress through three stages of existence. There’s the initial rumour-mill powered period whereby a device is leaked, murmured and genuinely speculated about. Then there’s the officialdom period, after the launch event but before the device hits the shops. Then there’s the IRL period where you can go into a shop and buy the device.
The LG Watch Urbane LTE second edition breezed through stages one and two, had a quick go at three but decided it wasn’t going to stick around.
Or, at least somebody did. Nobody’s quite sure why the LG Watch Urbane sequel was cancelled just days after being made available by AT&T and Verizon.
The Android Wear smartwatch, which was the first to offer cellular connectivity, was cancelled at the end of last week; purportedly for good.
Here’s what LG had to say: “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.”
It’s a massive shame because the cellular connectivity made LG’s fourth Android Wear smartwatch stand out from the crowd. In an ever expanding market – there are now 11 on sale – LG would have hoped that its latest connected timepiece appealed to people wanting the full Dick Tracy smartwatch experience – wrist calling and all.
Samsung leads the way in terms of smartwatches that can be unpaired from a tethered smartphone – the just-launched Gear S2 and original Gear S both offer independent cellular activity. Android Wear devices haven't had that option until an update arrived for the platform last week.
LG actually turned to webOS earlier this year for a special edition Watch Urbane with LTE features, in collaboration with Audi. Here’s hoping that the cancelled sequel to that experiment proves to be only a minor blip on the tether-free smartwatch road.
