A new report has surfaced on Monday, saying that LG Urbane 2 has been officially cancelled due to hardware problems. It was said that LG smartwatch's release dates have been suspended and for those customers who have preordered the smartwatch in the U.S will get a full refund, a report from iDigital Times said.
"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. 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. 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," LG said, announcing the company's decision to pull out the smartwatch as quoted in the report.
According to Computer World, it was pointed out that LG Urbane 2 has been pulled off from the shelves because these devices "are not actually carrier-locked." Several reports say that the hardware issues discovered in the smartwatch "directly affects the day-to-day functionality."
"Whatever, it's bad news for Google, too-not just for LG. This device was to be the first of the new breed of Android Wear devices that could make calls and use cellular data without the need for a paired phone," the report said.
This explains why mobile carriers giant like AT&T and Verizon have decided not to sell the innovative and classy smartwatch. AT&T retail stores and customers who bought the latest LG smartwatch have been informed that they will receive a full refund.
"Still, there are some second gen Watch Urbane in the wild with some buyers looking for some reassurance that it won't blow up on their wrists. One theory is that it's not a safety issue - or LG would have to disclose it - but in fact, operators like AT&T could be annoyed that users can buy the watch from them then use it with another network like T-Mobile," Wareable reports.
