LG Electronics who is struggling to attract consumers to buy their smartphones and watches, has been forced to pull their Urbane 2nd Edition LTE smart watch due to ‘an unspecified hardware issue’.
The device which has not gone on sale in Australia yet, due to LG Australia’s policy of not delivering smartphones and watches until months after the same products have gone on sale overseas was pulled from sale in retail stores this week.
LG pulled the plug, stating there was a problem which affected the “day-to-day functionality of the device”. The company hasn’t said whether they will be recalling any units sold to customers.
Whatever the problem is, it’s severe enough to warrant LG’s refusal to confirm whether the product will go back on sale in the future.
“We understand that you are currently reviewing our latest smartwatch; however, 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.
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What is not known is why LG engineers were unable to identify the problem prior to the device being released.
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,” LG said in a statement issued to Android Police.
“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.”
The second edition of the Watch Urbane was the first smartwatch with mobile data connectivity and multiple function buttons, with inbuilt heart rate monitor and rounded 480 x 480 P-OLED display, the highest of any Android Wear-running smartwatch to date.
Cellular connectivity meant users could make calls directly from the watch, rather than having to be synced to a paired smartphone.
LG revealed the first Watch Urbane at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in March.
Android Wear-running smartwatches have not had a good run of late, after independent analyst company Canalys claimed Apple has sold around 7m Apple Watches since the device’s launch earlier this year, a figure in excess of all other vendors’ combined shipments over the previous five quarters.
Its closest rival, Pebble, saw shipments reach 200,000 in the third quarter, the company said, thanks to the launch of its Time Steel smartwatch, made from stainless steel with a colour e-paper display.
However, shipments of Samsung’s Gear smartwatch range declined during the period, ahead of the release of the new round Gear S2 later this month.
