According to various sources that spoke with CNET, some of Google’s larger Android Wear partners, including LG, Huawei and Motorola – aka Lenovo – have no plans to release any new Android Wear devices this year.
The companies are reportedly taking a watch and wait attitude when it comes to Android Wear and the future of devices in this category.
We were a little surprised that Moto and Huawei didn’t bring new Android Wear devices to IFA 2016 as they chose that event to launch their offerings last year.
Whilst LG technically re-released the LG Watch Urbane LTE this year it could be argued that was a delayed launch due to the technical issues LG had with launching the product the first time around. Where does that leave us with Android Wear? Despite these OEMs not offering any Android Wear devices there has never been more choice in the Android Wear space.
Let’s take a quick look at the Android Wear devices that have come out this year (we won’t count the LG Urbane)
| Manafacture | Device | Available in Australia | |
| Ausus | ZenWatch 3 |  |
TBA |
| Casio | Smart Outdoor |  |
No |
| Fossil | Q Marshall |  |
Yes |
| Fossil | Q Wander |  |
Yes |
| Michael Kos | Bradshaw |  |
Yes |
| Michael Kos | Dylan |  |
Yes |
| Nixon | Mission |  |
Yes |
| Polar | M600 |  |
Yes |
| Tag Heuer | Connected |  |
Yes |
I don’t know about you but that looks to be a pretty impressive list. The other interesting feature is that this list of watches is dominated by… watch makers. Could it be that Watchmakers make better watches than Smartphone companies? With the Snapdragon reference platform and Google’s stock controlled Android Wear software experience it’s a perfect combination for turnkey electronics with real watch design and crafting. That said the ZenWatch 3 is simply stunning and I am simply bursting with anticipation to see it.
Sure it would be better if all of the major players in the space were releasing new devices this year, but perhaps they know something we don’t? Perhaps there is a hardware change on the horizon that the OEMs didn’t want to release a device without? Could it be that with Google rumoured to be releasing two smartwatches soon that the OEMs didn’t feel the need to push new devices or compete with them? Or, they could possibly be waiting on the arrival of Android Wear 2.0 which should launch in the next month.
I don’t think we will ever know. Smartwatches in general are a nascent category and it is highly likely that the demand for them has stagnated a little – a watch is after all supposed to last for some time.
With more Android Wear devices on the market, with more devices appearing in “normal” shops than ever before, time will be the judge of the category – hence the watch and wait attitude of LG, Huawei, Moto etc.
As the platform iterates more useful features will emerge then again for me Time, notification, message triage and reply and media control are excellent, all it needs is, you guessed it NFC payments.
I for one hope Android Wear lives on, I wear mine daily and love it for all manner of interactions, I will turn my car back around if I’ve left it behind, apparently that’s the ultimate test. That said I’m an edge case, and so are most of use here.
Do you want or have and Android Wear device? Let us know what Wear needs to do to get on your wrist.
As I’ve said before, these watches are far too cost ineffective to be justifiable to the average consumer, esp coupled with pretty average battery life.
Once you factor in replacing your phone, tablet and now watch every 12/18/24 months, you’re out >$2k every cycle! That’s an insane amount to spend, on what is essentially, disposable technology.
These watchmakers are making Android Wear watches, but we’ll see how many are still bothering in 6-12mths time.
I should have bought the Huawei watch when it was cheaper :p
It’s on sale on Amazon US with Shipping to AU if you still want one
Ahh bummer.. i have an early gen1 Moto360 which us slowly dying. Battery only lasts until 3.00pm. And am really not happy that it wont be upgraded to Android Wear V2…grrr
I’ve got an OG 360 as well, you know it wouldn’t be up to it. Time for us to upgrade
Same, at about 30% it most of the time will just shut down. It does not power up from the button just dead, it is has happened at 70% as well.
I am not spending 500 odd and more on a watch that lasts for maybe 18 months. They are too expensive for what you get and that is why they are not selling. They need to be sub $300 or forget it.
I love my LG Urbane Gen1, i’m perfectly happy with the battery life it gets and have never ran out. It gets about 2 days always on at max brightness.
If anything ill be looking for a slimmer design for my next watch in a few years, even at the cost of battery life.
PS you might want to check your spelling of “Asus” Duncan.
I think the problem is that the offerings are really expensive for what you get. And the 1 day battery life is a serious issue for a watch – it’s a joke. If someone could bring a decent device to market for a price that’s not trying to gouge then I think there would be a market for them to play in. As it is they’ve been greedy and dumped in their own nest.
The watch I’m interested in is the Samsung Gear 3 but there’s no pricing yet, so that could go south, too.
wating for a Huawei W1 update