Slashdot Mirror
Older Android Wear Watches Will Miss Out On the v2.0 Update (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Google hasn't officially made any announcements about what watch hardware will receive the Android Wear 2.0 update when it's released later this year, but it looks like at least a few of the first-generation watches will be missing out. LG says it has no plans to update the original LG G Watch, and now Motorola says it plans to drop support for the original Moto 360. Given Samsung's disinterest in continuing on with new Android Wear hardware, the future doesn't look rosy for the Samsung Gear Live, either. This news comes just two years after Android Wear and many of these watches were originally introduced.
This just means it'll be a museum piece in about 3 more years, right?
Oh no! This is awful! So all of those unused Android watches sitting in drawers or other forgotten-about places won't get updates?! This is so awful! The owners just might possibly notice this, but probably never will!
It's starting to seem like these things are falling into the same trap of normal computer hardware, but for different reasons.
It used to be that people could hem and haw about updating their computers since they would be obsolete practically before you were done setting them up. Hardware advanced, newer and shinier things came along. However, at least you would get OS updates, security updates, it would run all the things except maybe not quite as flashy after a while.
This is ... something different. I don't buy an overpriced watch with the expectation of buying a new one two years later because, umm ... because hackers can take control of it, apparently. That is just ridiculous.
The logical conclusion would be to wait, and wait, and essentially wait until the heat death of the universe because the stuff you buy is planned to die long before it is supposed to PHYSICALLY die.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
I am sure the entire userbase which consists of Google employees who who were given them and then put in their drawer at home will be disappointed.
I am a little disappointed as to date, Android wear has been cheap, regularly updated.
Neither watches mentioned are a surprised the 360 dragged through more hardware updaters than it could cope and the lg g a bottom end watch, I would have rather have seen make it to the next generation.
This is Google's (partners)first misstep in this underrated market. They should have dragged both of these watches through another (optional) upgrade cycle.
This is why smart phone and smart watch sales are tanking. People are tired of perfectly good hardware being obsoleted just because manufacturers are too lazy to support them.
Back in my days watches were designed in such a way that they didn't need upgrading.
This is why "open source" is not enough. Software freedom is more than just being able to read some source code.
This wouldn't be a problem if the OS running on these devices weren't Tivo-ized.
Never been patched!!!!
Kind of like the sound of one hand clapping.
~/pedant
I've got a Moto 360 (1st gen), a Samsung Gear S2, and a Samsung Gear Fit. All were bought as refurbs at a significant discount.
The only watch I paid full MSRP for was my wife's Apple watch.
Apple's reputation of long-term support of its hardware was the only reason I felt comfortable paying full price. The A.D.D. that exists in the Google/Samsung world means that I will only buy these devices as refurbs - and I won't spend more than $100. I refuse to pay full price for a device that will be obsolete in less than two years.
If these manufacturers want higher margins, they will need to commit to long-term support for these devices.
Please insert another $400 to continue.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I mean, seriously, watches are so last century and "tethered" synced watches are so last decade.
Wake me when your jacket wirelessly powers itself and the sleeve displays stuff like this.
The tech is already here, and if you don't have it, you're just a n00b.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
How come only the older wearers don't get updates?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
For jumping up and paying to beta-test zeroeth-gen equipment...
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I don't need any software updates. Mine works fine as is. Don't need some new battery draining feature. I still get a compliment on it once every couple of months. Mostly used for telling time, then see who email or text is from, pull out phone if it's not junk.
is still going strong after 6 years. It has two alarms, two time zones, stopwatch, atomic clock sync and recharged by light. Basically everything I have or will need in a watch.
[middle finger emoji] (slashdot is unable to display unicode)
Really, it seems many first versions of devices lose support rather quickly. My guess it that businesses don't find early adopters to be all that important, or perhaps the early adopters themselves are the problem and cease using devices after a while because they've jumped onto the next big thing.
P.S. - I'm not an early adopter type, I still use a PalmOS-based device on a regular basis.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Meet the Apple haters in the adjacent thread bitching about how the "walled garden" prevents them from sideloading dubious apps that spread viruses and ransomware.
We have 8 year old Macs running El Capitan and I know people running ios 9.1 on iPhone 4s.
That's as good as you can expect in the tech world.
When these LG things go cheap on ebay, I might consider one on which to load Asteroid OS