Android Wear 2.0 was initially revealed the better part of a year ago, and Google was finally about to push it out to compatible devices. However, the company delayed it at the last second after a major bug was discovered in the final round of tests. The update is highly-anticipated because it brings Google Assistant, a dedicated version of the Play Store and new watch faces to smartwatches that run on the operating system.
Google confirms bug in Android Wear 2.0
Google unveiled Android Wear 2.0 at its annual I/O developer conference last year. At the time, it was planning to push out the second version of its operating system for wearables in the fall, but before that happened, the company delayed the release until early this year. But now a Google spokesperson said in a statement that they’re delaying the release again, and it must be serious, given that the company isn’t known for delaying the release of its software products.
In the statement sent to 9to5Google, the spokesperson said they started pushing out Android Wear 2.0 to three smartwatches: the Fossil Q Founder, the Tag Heuer Connected and the Casio Smart Outdoor Watch WSD-F10. However, the statement also reveals that they’re delaying the Android Wear 2.0 release for other wearable devices because of a bug that was found in the final round of tests.
Android Wear 2.0 set to be rolled out to the Polar M600
The company did not say exactly what the bug was, but it sounds like the problem has been taken care of for at least one smartwatch. Polar tweeted today that it will start pushing out the Android Wear 2.0 update to the Polar M600 watch gradually to all users around the globe over the next week. Since we haven’t heard other smartwatch makers making this announcement, it seems like the Android team may be pushing out the update gradually by watch model. Google itself hasn’t announced a widespread roll-out of Android Wear 2.0 either.
It should be noted that this delay in Android Wear 2.0 only applies to older smartwatches that run on the operating system, as there are some newer models that are launching with the OS preloaded on them. The LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style were released when the OS was unveiled last year.
Diesel and Fossil also teamed up to launch the Diesel on Time hybrid watch, which will run on Android Wear 2.0 when it is released. Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss also showed off new Android Wear smartwatches recently.
