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Yesterday, Google announced that Android Wear smartwatches would be getting WiFi support in the next coming weeks, bringing most Android Wear devices in line with the upcoming Apple Watch. Having a WiFi connected Android wearable is definitely a highly sought after feature, even if you still need to have your phone powered on and connected to the Internet in one way or another for full watch functionality. The question remains, does every Android Wear smartwatch support WiFi? Sadly, no.
Yesterday, both Motorola and Sony confirmed publicly that both the Moto 360 and the Sony Smartwatch 3 support WiFi, while other Android Wear OEMs have been silent. We reached out to LG, ASUS, and Samsung for comment on their offerings. According to LG, the LG G Watch and G Watch R do not support WiFi, however the upcoming LG Watch Urbane does. According to ASUS, the ZenWatch does not have WiFi either. We’re still waiting to hear back from Samsung, though previous iFixit teardowns confirm that the Samsung Gear Live does in fact have a WiFi antenna. We’ll update the article if Samsung responds.
Let us know how you feel in the comments LG G Watch, G Watch R, and ZenWatch owners. Your watches are now borderline obsolete thanks to this hardware fragmentation. Will you be upgrading to an Android Wear watch that supports WiFi?
Update: A previous version of this article stated that the G Watch R and ZenWatch would in fact get WiFi support with the upcoming Android Wear OTA update. Since then, we’ve received confirmation from both LG and ASUS that those devices would not get WiFi support as originally published. We apologize.
Update 2: Samsung has confirmed with Phandroid that the Gear Live will in fact gain WiFi support with the upcoming OTA update for Android Wear. Congrats Gear Live owners.
Here’s a quick recap. Will your Android Wear smartwatch get WiFi?
- Moto 360 – YES
- Sony SmartWatch 3 – YES
- Samsung Gear Live – YES
- LG Watch Urbane – YES
- ASUS ZenWatch – NO
- LG G Watch – NO
- LG G Watch R – NO
Sweet!!! Let’s hope this doesn’t make battery life worse, lol!
If WiFi is the only feature that the G Watch won’t get from this update, I’d hardly call it an obsolete device. That’s a nice to have feature, but I don’t see it as being a deal breaker if it’s missing, especially when a G Watch can be had for under $100 fairly regularly.
Agreed. It’s still a wonderful watch and as long as the other features come to it, I won’t be too heart broken. I always have my phone on me, so the WiFi feature would be moot anyway.
You’re probably right, for some it won’t be a deal breaker, and the LG G Watch with it’s battery life and cost savings make it a very nice device for some. That said, others will be upset that they don’t have the latest and greatest when they supported the new platform from day one. To each their own.
Judging by the comments most people bought the G Watch long after it was the latest and greatest. Most of the choices available suck so why not pick one up at a sub $100 price. Nothing at this point ticks all the boxes. All of them will be obsolete in 2 years anyway. Plus if you think the battery life is terrible now wait till you see how these little batteries perform after 2 years of constant charging. Would you pay $100 to have the battery changed in 2 years or put it towards a new Watch with a quicker more efficient processor and any new features Google has added to the new hardware specs(Force Touch)?
yes.
“you’re G Watch is now obsolete” is a bit harsh and misleading.
(and it’s “your” not “you’re” ;))
Typo fixed, thank you! As for obsolete, I say that because the LG G Watch can’t connect to WiFi, a major part of this update. It has been superseded by other versions. If any functionality or apps come now or in the future, that take advantage of WiFi, this watch will not be able to participate. The platform is now fragmented because of this obsolescence.
But fragmented is obsolete due to overuse and now it is worn out.
Unless there is talk about a direct wifi connection between phone and watch, this update won’t result in much, if any, fragmentation. Most apps designed for mobile platforms are not going to be designed to be used only when in wifi range, which means Bluetooth is likely to remain the primary way Android Wear devices communicate with our handsets. Plus, considering that battery life is a huge issue for the current generation of devices, and wifi eats up more juice than Bluetooth LE, I think that will ensure that wifi-only apps are the exception rather than the rule.
Well, they are all but the Sony Smartwatch 3 obsolete, as it is the only one to support another feature : GPS.
So there was already some kind of fragmentation !
Remind me, why is WiFi important again?
Bluetooth seems to cover the entire house already.
http://www.eJobsBox.net/USA/position!UtQ8YpTw..
I’m not in any big hurry to dump the G Watch just because of this. I’d kind of like something else but I’d like to see what, if anything, Motorola does for a successor to the 360 first.
I purchased a moto 360 last week with that bestbuy deal. Man, compared to my G Watch, the battery life was just horrendous. I keep my screen on all the time and can easily get 2 days out of the G Watch. Moto 360? Better hope you didn’t get more than a few notifications because it’s probably almost dead by the end of the business day. Needless to say, the moto 360 has already been sold off and I’m back to the G watch. Love the design of the 360, hopefully they update the internals a little bit for the next iteration.
LoL!! If I get a ton of notifications, my Moto 360 would need charging by the end of the day. It’ll have around 30%-50%. That range is based on if I’m actually responding from the watch or not. Some days, I use the watch to respond, some I don’t.
If I go Ambient Mode on, gg. LoL!! I have Ambient Mode on when I’m out and about, but not at work or driving.
I can get through the day just fine, but I can’t forget to charge it. Glad it’s wireless charging. I actually like being able to set it down without having to care if I’m holding the USB the right way or anything stupid and tedious. =.P
#FirstWorldProblems
YMMV. I personally prefer the benefits of aesthetics and features (ambient screen), and now apparently WiFi to still take my 360 any day.
It really depends on use, because I easily manage all day battery on my 360 no matter the circumstances. And when I turn on gyro-on or tap-on I increase life to 2, 3 days respectively.
Meh. I’m way more excited for the new app launcher. The one now kinda sucks.
Agreed. The current one is near worthless.
I called this yesterday… And Chavez said G Watch and G Watch R were exactly the same and would have WiFi.
Hold on, let me go get you a cookie
They both have the same Snapdragon processor – however everyone saying the G Watch would support WiFi missed the part where while the 400 supports WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and LTE – it still needs additional hardware to actually make it work. The G Watch additional chip only supports Bluetooth.
According to an email I just got, the R will not get WiFi either. Sad trombone. Article updated.
It is worth asking them again – https://youtu.be/JNvWK91Ymfk?t=5m22s their official press release video specifically mentions WiFi.
Watched the whole video no mention of WiFi
So the part on the screen with the huge red arrow I have added you completely missed did you?
Yup, after working 16 hours with another 2 to go my attention is a little lacking. How about you give me a time in the video instead of a snide comment.
Apologies – I assumed you watched the video I had posted – which starts at the exact point where WiFi is listed on the giant screen. 5mins 22 secs
EDIT: Though being at work for so long would certainly mash my brains too :(
According to this, the LG G round (Model W110) does have wifi:
http://fccid.net/number.php?fcc=ZNFW110&id=761057#axzz3Xx6ebWzT
The LG G Watch is bluetooth only
So the G Watch R is getting WiFi support? Great!
According to an email I just got, no, it isn’t. Article updated.
Can’t say I’m disappointed by this. Wifi will eat more battery and who needs that, especially 360 owners. My G is only connected about an hour a day, when I use my M7 to play music on my lunch break at work (or when I’m updating Play store apps at home). My M7’s not my phone anyway so no need for a constant connection.
Especially 360 owners? Because my 2-3 day battery life is so terrible…
We have no real world testing of WiFi on Wear but we’re already making assumptions. For all we know it’ll sip battery life just like on BT, only requesting data when there is user input or something of the sort.
So you have your Wear device for your (tablet-like) phone? What’s the point in that if you’re only doing music control? Might as well have picked up some BT headphones for the same functionality.
It’s like these companies want to purposely give us 2 hours of battery life…
http://i.imgur.com/ZGLqOoJ.jpg
Glad I waited for the 360.
WTH, why no wifi support for LG g watch? No more LG for me. Its even more expensive than the samsung gear live but wtf? No heart rate sensor, lower screen resolution, now no wifi. LG, go to hell!
You bought a first generation device/PLATFORM and this surprises you enough to say go to hell/you’re never buying them again?
Really? The samsung gear live launched at the same time as the lg g watch, eh??? It got wifi, heart rate sensor ehh. Whats ur point?
That (and the oled screen with all day battery life with screen always on) is why I chose the gear live.
I must be the only one that bought it… It’s not even ugly with a metal wrist band.
Then I guess you should have bought a gear live!
No, it means LG either was either cheaped out for LG G Watch or were unaware that wifi would going to be an important factor.
I mean, FFS, the LG G Watch at launch cost more than the Gear LIve being 230 and 200 respectively. What justified the pricing for the LG G Watch? It’s a piece of plastic that does less than the Gear Live and now it’s looking even more retard to think about it now that the Gear Live not only had a heartbeat sensor and a nicer look but also working Wifi.
A big fail for LG. I was interested in Getting the LG G Watch R but not anymore now.
Maybe I would feel the same as you if I had bought at launch and paid full price ($229) – I only paid $100, so I feel I got a watch that was worth my money.
Hahaha
This doesn’t upset me. This is what happens with being an early adopter. Heck, I didn’t expect to see the Moto 360 have WiFi support, but it does apparently.
Smartwatches are still new, so I don’t see why people are getting upset. You know these watches are in their infancy. Don’t be so rash to jump into newer technology.
inb4 someone says smart watches existed before
I was a late G Watch adopter, but seeing as I paid only $50 for my device, I’m not going to be too disappointed. Although I was looking forward to having the ability to leave my phone on my nightstand while watching TV in another room, I’m no worse off now than I was when I bought it. I can see truly early adopters being kinda peeved though, particularly given that this watch was more expensive with an inferior screen to the Samsung 1st gen device.
Same. I bought mine in October (the only reason I didn’t get the 360 was because it would be too big for my wrist). On the other hand (no pun intended), since the G Watch borrows data connection from phone, I can just use wear browser if I’m desperate to check something online and too lazy to walk to my laptop or phone
Not exactly disappointed, as the WiFi support is not exactly a must for me at this point, although it would have been nice. I’m looking forward to the better navigation for apps, and the contacts list, because I may be able to remove 3 apps from my watch if the update works out nicely (although it’s not like I need the memory on the watch for anything else)
Because the g watch isn’t an apple watch and won’t have wifi it’s obsolete. Can’t get any more asinine than that. So u have to carry your phone around with you,you (I) do it any ways. I get all day battery life from my g watch now. It’s not a deal breaker really and for less than 100 dollars all those Apple fanatics ask me how do u like your Iwatch, I say it’s android and it’s great.
Why is it obsolete? I didn’t have wifi last month and I wont have it next month, so what?
ur so clever that you shold write for snl. they can’t go any lower.
shold I? I think I shold!
i got my lg g watch at best buy for 80 bucks and that price included a 50 buck google play credit. for only 30 bucks i don;t mind if it doesnt have wifi. i’ll be strong. i do like my lg gwatch very much
Target has them for $80 with a coupon right now and I am trying to decide if it is worth a purchase when all of the 2nd gen devices will probably be announced soon.
im sure this is asked everytime that image is used but…
what watchface is that?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twotoasters.chron
It’s one of my favorites due to the date being present.
Thanks mate
I mainly bought the G Watch to see if I get any important emails or texts from our other offices while seeing patients because I don’t have much time to check my phone. The wifi would be cool but there is no way I can get used to typing on that small screen instead of my Note 4. If I could leave the phone somewhere and accept calls over wifi that might be handy but I cant think of any situation where I want to leave my phone somewhere. So far I am not terribly impressed with Android Wear. Though my charging cradle melted and while I was awaiting a new one I did miss it. When Android Wear matures and the G is truly obsolete I will definitely upgrade.
How did the cradle melt?
And given that Android Wear is still a young platform, there’s a lot of room to grow.
You could always get an LG Watch Urbane LTE, but that’s not Android Wear :/
It might be my fault why it melted. The cord is very short that came with it. I was charging it in the bathroom while I took a shower and I let it hang plugged in. I noticed it got very hot and melted a little.
A WiFi only connected watch for apps you don’t need would be stupid. My phone is 95% connected to 4G LTE. Not everyone has WiFi hotspots. The downside to WiFi it is not mobile once you get outside the hotspot and in a dead zone your WiFi watch isn’t going to get connected to anything. I haven’t heard anyone mention and I am willing to bet that the WiFi support watch will need a router SSID code to get your watch connected. Most places don’t have public WiFi so you’ll have to use your own and stay within it’s vicinity which isn’t practical through out the day or you would have to use your phone for a WiFi hotspot but that would be really stupid since your phone and watch support Bluetooth.
I just bought my LG G Watch a couple of weeks on eBay for $88.00 in mid April and I don’t regret it. The LG G Watch is so far from obsolete that the mention of it is an idiotic statement. My watch doesn’t have a heart rate monitor either but what I can still get one and still wear the LG G watch. A WiFi connection has many down falls also poor battery life.
I shall wait until I see some sort of reason why WiFi is useful until I regard my watch as obsolete, ‘support for’ and ‘making good use of’ are two different things
Can’t really see a benefit from WiFi tbh, I always have my mobile with me, so not a problem, its not like I can make a call from my LG Gwatch R, your obsolete remark is absurd and one of many reasons why I’m deleting this page from my bookmarks…
SO glad I waited for my 360. As already pointed out, this is the first step of fragmentation for Wear, and the G is only the first step mark my words. WiFi connections allows Wear to be a standalone device.
WiFi will benefit for me as I can still locate my phone when I’m too far from it
Examples:
At home I tend to leave my Wear on the charger and I walk away turning off the BT on my phone so my location app doesn’t keep notifying me of disconnection. When I misplace my phone at home I can now use my Wear as a locator w/o BT now.
At the office, I can use the WiFi to locate, and in the field my work hotspot can allow connection when I leave my phone behind.
Translation: The LG G watch now has the best battery life of all Android Wear devices. LOL :)
Translation: No, it doesn’t. It really really doesn’t.
You seeing bad battery life with yours? I always restart mine every morning after charging and disabled tilt wake. Could get 2 days battery life easy.
Same, I bought it second hand as well. Battery life seems better if you’re connected to a lollipop device.
LG and Asus stated their respective devices won’t have Wifi support – does that mean there is positively NO Wifi module or just that the OEMs have no interest in supporting it? If the Wifi module is present, could root enable it?
No, because there is no antenna, even if the chipset has WiFi support.
This article is not correct. The LG G Watch R DOES have Wifi since it has the Snapgdragon 400!
This article IS correct. SoC support does not mean that the hardware is there for it.
Nope.
Wifi for LG G round:
http://fccid.net/number.php?fcc=ZNFW110&id=761057#axzz3Xx6ebWzT
No Wifi for square LG G
http://fccid.net/number.php?fcc=ZNFW100&id=620837#axzz3Y6yDWueH
No antenna apparently on the G round :(
https://youtu.be/JNvWK91Ymfk?t=5m22s This official LG video from IFA where they unveiled the G Watch R – specifically mentions it is a Bluetooth & WiFi chip.
I have the urge to punch that guy
I know exactly what you mean……..
Is this the guy that the character Tom Haverford from Parks and Rec was based off of?
also, the FCC entries mention Wifi (only model W110, which is the LG G round, the square LG G Watch is bluetooth only):
http://fccid.net/number.php?fcc=ZNFW110&id=761057#axzz3Xx6ebWzT
I don’t see why everyone is so excited about this update… Maybe because I use my smart watch primarily as a watch and it does that just fine and its never died on me I don’t really care…
The coolest new feature is having your boarding pass QR code pop up on the watch. Elicited oohs and aahs from the bros in engineering at my company.
Nice
“Your watches are now borderline obsolete thanks to this hardware fragmentation.”
Only if you actually care about this feature (I don’t).
What about the Samsung Gear Fit? Wifi??
The gear fit is NOT a Android wear watch so it does not matter whether it has wifi,… As it won’t get google’s update anyway
That is the last LG product I buy. For fucks sakes, its one of the most expensive Wear devices and they miss wifi? They didnt see that coming? That is very disappointing and very pissed at myself that I didnt get the 360
We are on the same boat, bro! No more lg
I fully agree, this is a massive shame!!!
Chill bro…as Alain Wennmaekers said 3 hours ago:
“Btw. Androidworld.nl apparently got confirmation from LG benelux that the lg g round will have wifi”…maybe it is still a change for us LG GWR owners… :)
According to the FCC certifications, the LG G round (model W110) does have Wifi
http://fccid.net/number.php?fcc=ZNFW110&id=761057#axzz3Xx6ebWzT
The LG G watch (Model number W100) does not
It has the wifi chip but they didn’t put an antenna for it like others did in the moto360 and other devices. I’m afraid we’re screwed here :(
It’s very bad PR for LG so may be they’ll do something about it… or not since it’s still a very small market and this will all be forgotten in a few months anyway.
I don’t buy your explanation.
As bluetooth is also 2.4ghz, it would be implemented in the same antenna.
There would also be no certification for wifi if the hardware was not there.
Btw. Androidworld.nl apparently got confirmation from LG benelux that the lg g round will have wifi
It seems like even LG confirmed it. What do you want more ?
Where have we seen LG confirmation?
LG UK confirmed it: https://twitter.com/LGUK/status/591192822675570688
Very sad news and real shame hoestly.
Thanks for the link.
As anG Watch R user, this is disappointing if true. Although I’m otherwise happy with my watch (tried a moto 360 for a couple of weeks and didn’t get on with it), wifi would be handy for me. When I’m at home and my phone needs charging, bluetooth won’t reach my home office area. Wifi would have kept me in touch with things. I can manage with pushbullet sending info to my computer but the watch would have been better.
I even checked before buying that the GWR wasn’t missing anything useful, and saw the articles about the wifi so I thought it would have been useful for a future update.
What about the new Huawei Watch, will it get WiFi?
Darn.. I was actually really looking forward to that update too.. :(
I like my zenwatch more than my co-worker’s moto 360, but that really is a blow on this end..
Ugh. Love everything about my Zenwatch (returned a 360 for it). This is a huge blow as I often lose a bluetooth signal walking around the house.
i have GWR and WTF.. pissed..
I can understand the frustration – I own a Zen and yeah – not getting a feature other are getting is annoying as heck.
In my own case, I honestly can’t see the logic in this feature. WiFi is going to put an additional drain on the watch and you’re going to have to manage WiFi connections on it. I’m still not at all sure what you gain from the feature except remote notifications if you leave your phone behind… which *sounds* useful except that your watch has to be connected to WiFi while you’re away – so it’s going to be useless in a lot of places anyway.
More to the point, I’d rather forget my watch than forget my phone. My watch is just a small mini-display for my phone…
Still, no argument, bummer that we’re not getting the feature. Considering Google actually had the power to dictate the hardware minimum specs this time – any hope that Google can ever manage and eliminate the platform fragmentation problem looks like a far and distant hope.
I backed the gear live from launch. Although I’ve had issues with the charging cradle (sent my original one back because of it) I’m glad that mine supports this feature as this will allow me tp wonder around work and home without having to take my phone off charge. Kinda feel bad though for LG owners.
Seems like google should have had a bigger say on the hardware side of things. Surely this WiFi feature has being in planning for a very long time for certain devices to already have the hardware for it?
Wow, the Moto 360 does have some life in it. First they doubled the battery life with an update, now it has Wi-Fi…all of these with an “ancient” 2010 processor. I see no reason to upgrade anytime soon unless the battery capacity doubles and the watch consumes half the current power. Well done Motorola.
I don’t see the point in using Wi-Fi anyway. I haven’t been using it up to this point so why start now? I can see the need for Wi-Fi on a smartphone since it needs the data to function, but not on the watch. It’s just one more thing that will take away battery life of the watch. And I know someone is gonna say “well what if you leave your phone at home?”, well then you are screwed because you will have to find somewhere with free Wi-Fi to connect and sync up. It’s hard enough to connect a smartphone to free Wi-Fi jumping through all the press the connect or agree button to continue loops. Then what are you going to do once connected? Scroll through your notifications that give you basic information and try to respond to text with your voice? What about the calls you missed? Oh yeah, unless you have the Urbane you have no way to call anyone back. Its fine that they are including a Wi-Fi option, but it seems like an inconvenience to me.