LG finally comes clean on why the Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE was cancelled
The LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE was supposed to be the world’s first Android Wear smartwatch with cellular support, capable of receiving calls directly on the watch itself. It was barely on the market for a week (AT&T) before it was unexpectedly pulled from store shelves, the day it was also supposed to launch on Verizon and the Google Store.
LG was mum on specifics, saying the reason the cancellation had something to do with a quality issue — nothing more. Some guessed it must have been an actual safety issue to cancel such a big launch, but today LG is finally coming clean. In a statement provided to The Telegraph, LG says it was a component with the Urbane 2nd Edition’s display that was the problem, one that could potentially cause an impact on image quality over time.
“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.”
The LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE featured a 480×480 P-OLED display, something that owners seemed impressed with, at least the few who were able to pick one up before it got yanked. Still up in the air is whether or not LG will recall all units that have been sold, or if they have plans to re-release the watch (maybe as a 3rd Edition?) at a future time.