Older Android Wear Watches Will Miss Out On the v2.0 Update (arstechnica.com) 59
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.
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#fragmentation
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LG G R on my wrist right now, where it has been since last summer. I only take it off for charging once a week.
Thanks lg. BR, ex-customer.
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Thanks lg. BR, ex-customer.
You realize the G watch R *is* on the list to get the update, right?
Planned obsolescence (Score:3)
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.
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That's great in theory, but you have to move to stay still.
How do you expect something you buy in 2016 to be patched against 2018 malware?
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Well, if it's an android device you simply don't expect updates beyond a year or two.
disaster (Score:2)
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Great for early adopters (Score:1)
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.
And they wonder why (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
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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.
Sigh. What about a new software update makes the existing software update obsolete. No, the problem is peoples' mindset that if the OS version on your device hasn't changed recently the hardware needs to go in the garbage.
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If it was only that simple. The real problem comes when you have an integrated device like a smartwatch that needs, say, a phone to effectively operate. You may not be able to run the same software you had two years ago: the OS on your phone may require you to run a particular version of, say, the "Phone" app that's been pushed to your device by the carrier and now your watch doesn't vibrate when you get a call.
So, the complaint that this bullshit needs to stop is valid. People aren't going to spend $200
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If it was only that simple. The real problem comes when you have an integrated device like a smartwatch that needs, say, a phone to effectively operate. You may not be able to run the same software you had two years ago: the OS on your phone may require you to run a particular version of, say, the "Phone" app that's been pushed to your device by the carrier and now your watch doesn't vibrate when you get a call.
You know what else would be terrible? If Google decided to push pr0n to my watch when it detected my kids near to me. Terrible. Just terrible. It has to stop.
You can imagine all sorts of bad shit that could happen, but it hasn't. So let's complain about it when it does instead of making stuff up. Backwards compatible interfaces is not a new or crazy concept. You leave the old code in place, running to support old clients. You write new services for new clients. It's done all the time.
It's also done all the
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Back in your day, people didn't need to do that much maintenance on their transportation because a horse and wagon doesn't need much, just a well-fed horse and maybe a little axle grease on the wagon wheels. Horse-drawn wagons also couldn't do most of the stuff a modern car or truck can, like drive at 75+mph safely, accelerate and brake quickly, work all day long on easily-available gasoline instead of needing to stop every so often for your horse to much grass and rest, blow cold or warm air on you as you
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Back in your day, people didn't need to do that much maintenance on their transportation because a horse and wagon doesn't need much, just a well-fed horse and maybe a little axle grease on the wagon wheels. Horse-drawn wagons also couldn't do most of the stuff a modern car or truck can, like drive at 75+mph safely, accelerate and brake quickly, work all day long on easily-available gasoline instead of needing to stop every so often for your horse to much grass and rest, blow cold or warm air on you as you travel, play music for you, etc.
Obviously, a watch that does nothing but tell you the time isn't going to have the maintenance needs that a networked microcomputer in a watch case has. As soon as you have a general-purpose computer running software and connected to a network, it needs to be regularly updated to avoid network-based attacks, and also possibly to stay compatible with other devices it communicates to.
And your reply still does not give a good reason why a watch needs to be a networked microcomputer... I don't see a reason to work things like that off my watch...
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Then it sounds like you probably wouldn't be a target for this product.
That said, I was someone that thought I'd never want to use a phone to browser the web or do anything but text and call. I was wrong. I was correct on how much I love my smart watch. Marshmallow made my 360 run like a champ. I wish it was getting upgraded because new faces and apps will be targeted for the update, but still, I am satisfied with my purchase and new this day would come (but I bought it after the second generation watch
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To provide a contrasting point, I never thought I would want a pocket-PC to make and receive telephone calls.
I still don't, but I have one I can live with in case the few people who deserve to be able to contact me decide to try to.
AsteroidOS (Score:2)
My Seiko Has 20 Years Uptime (Score:5, Funny)
Re:My Seiko Has 20 Years Uptime (Score:4, Informative)
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My Seiko doesn't work, and Seiko charged me an arm and a leg for a "guaranteed" fix that only lasted a month, they now refuse to do anything about it or to refund the money I paid for the guaranteed fix...
My Huawei watch on the other hand works great!
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The crown fell off my Seiko 15 years after I bought it. They paid for shipping both ways to/from Japan and fixed it - at no charge to me.
Your Seiko wristwatch has as much in common w/ a smart watch as that calculator has with a computer. I'm sure that Seiko makes you feel superior though huh? All of us idiots buying smart watches ...
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A watch and a smart watch are two completely different things that serve different roles. While a smartwatch does tell time, that's generally not why people buy them. It's hardly fair to compare the two and then hold up the traditional watch as being superior simply because it never needs software updates.
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While a smartwatch does tell time, that's generally not why people buy them. It's hardly fair to compare the two and then hold up the traditional watch as being superior simply because it never needs software updates.
And could you tell me what purposes of a smart watch are??? If you are talking about health (e.g. pulse, walking steps, etch.), then it is just an approximate measurement; however, the way they (sellers) advertise is the opposite (as if it is a reliable measurement device). Scheduling? That can come in any form and does not need to be a watch. Telling time? That is what a watch does...
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It vibrates my wrist when I need to head to my next meeting and lets me tell at a glance when my boss has emailed me, and how many !!!!s are in the subject line. Sadly I doubt a non-smart watch can perform those duties.
Min
Disinterested != !(Interested) (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:3)
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Your mind must be easily boggled. I can view a notification on a watch to see if it needs my immediate attention without pulling out my phone. If it saves just an hour a month it provides a great ROI.
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Was that meant to be tongue-in-cheek?
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Thank You for Participating in the Pubic Beta (Score:2)
Please insert another $400 to continue.
You know we laugh at you old watch wearers? (Score:1)
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.
Age discrimination? (Score:2)
How come only the older wearers don't get updates?
That's what you get. (Score:2)
For jumping up and paying to beta-test zeroeth-gen equipment...
First Gen 360 bought on sale. I don't need update. (Score:2)
My Casio G-shock (Score:2)
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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.
Your G-Shock has as much in common w/ a smart watch as a calculator has with a computer. You'd look pretty foolish explaining to folks how superior you were for saving money on a computer since you do just fine w/ your old trusty calculator. Makes you think doesn't it?
A message to early adopters (Score:2)
[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.
Android haters bitching about fragmentation... (Score:2)
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.