LG cancels rollout of first LTE-enabled Android Wear smartwatch due to hardware issues

The LG Watch Urbane was released a few months ago and is an excellent Android Wear smartwatch that looks good with a suit. LG just launched the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition with an integrated LTE radio this week at AT&T and Verizon.

If you picked up one of these smartwatches already, you may want to visit AT&T or Verizon and return it before you run into a problem. According to CNET, LG cancelled the rollout due to some kind of complicated hardware issue that affects the day-to-day functionality.

While LG has not provided the details on the hardware issue, it seems likely that it has something to do with the LTE cellular service.

The LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition was the first Android Wear device to launch with Marshmallow for Android Wear, with one of the primary new functions being support for LTE service. There is currently no other Android Wear device available or announced with cellular support. Samsung is getting ready to roll out its Tizen-based Samsung Gear S2.

The LG Watch Urbane had some rather large lugs. This 2nd Edition model has smaller lugs and a sleeker band with the cellular radio integrated into the band. I was looking forward to testing out this watch, but now that remains to be seen.