The announcement of Android Wear 2.0 at Google I/O last week was somewhat of a surprise for many. The question of course now, is whether each watch will be updated to Android Wear 2.0 and for the original LG G Watch, the answer could be no.
It’s not an official no, but it’s as official as we’ve seen so far with the question of whether the watch would be updated being answered by LG Mobile USA support via Twitter:
Sorry it's not on our current software update list and it's been discontinues. ^JK
— LG USA Mobile (@LGUSAMobile) May 24, 2016
The Android Wear platform has been under fairly tight control of Google since launch. Google has managed updates for the platform so far, releasing updates when ready. Updates have been fairly well managed, with a fairly limited range of specifications on devices, with mostly Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processors being used, with the Moto 360, as well as Fossil Q Founder and TAG Heuer Connected the notable exceptions.
As far as Google is concerned, at I/O, the Android Wear team simply answered that they are still in talks with manufacturers regarding the update to Android Wear 2.0 – so all is not lost when it comes to updates. Given the original G Watch runs essentially the same internals as newer models it’s still possible it’s just a miscommunication from LG’s social media team.
There is another piece of information which is relevant though, with the LG UK website showing that the LG G Watch R is now listing compatability with Android Wear 1.0 and Android Wear 2.0:
The newer LG Watch Urbane on the same site however doesn’t actually list the OS version it supports.
Google has advised that Android Wear 2.0 is based on Android N, so it won’t be released until the full Android N code is finalised and released to AOSP sometime this ‘Fall’ (Spring in Australia). This should take place around September/October, the usual time that Google releases new versions of Android and of course new Nexus phones.
There’s still plenty of time before this date, so don’t drop your original G Watch just yet, it’s still good.
A way for them to make me buy a new watch… 🙁
Isn’t this watch missing a hardware button? I’ve read elsewhere that given a hardware button is to become an integral part of Android Wear’s interface, it’s likely this is the reason the G Watch won’t get the update.
There’s no reason why engineering can’t get around this. It’s basically way too early to confirm it. Google hasn’t got a list of which devices will be getting the update as yet, so basically it’s wait and see.