Last week when LG cancelled the Urbane 2nd Edition LTE in the 11th hour, everyone was pretty shocked. Many people. including myself, had already purchased the device from AT&T or Verizon, so why the sudden and drastic move to recall? At the time LG only mentioned that a hardware issue was to blame, and recommended that users return the devices and get a full refund. Both AT&T and Verizon quickly removed the watch from their websites, and have been offering full refunds on the watches.
Today LG offered some more details on the specific issue affection the Urbane 2nd Edition LTE. It appears that a faulty screen component could lead to degradation of image quality over the life of the device, and this caused LG to pull the device completely. LG had the following to say in a statement to the Telegraph
For competitive and supplier relations reasons we are not in a position to communicate the specifics of the issue that led to this decision. However, what we can share is that the hardware issue was related to a new advanced component that we had incorporated in the device that had never been used in an LG wearable device before.
During aggressive testing over thousands of hours under severe conditions, it was revealed that this component failed to meet LG’s quality standards and could potentially impact our image quality over the life of the device.
It still seems that LG does not plan to put the Urbane 2 up for sale again in the near future, so we may all be waiting awhile for an LTE capable Android Wear device. Now that we know the issue, I’m still undecided on whether or not to keep mine. On one hand, it won’t get any software support so it would be stupid to keep it for everyday usage. On the other hand, it’s a piece of Android history! Anyone else buy this watch and plan on keeping it?
Source: Telegraph via Droid Life