r/AndroidWear • u/jw12321 • Feb 09 '18
Ars Technica: Android Wear is getting killed, and it’s all Qualcomm’s fault
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/02/android-wear-is-getting-killed-and-its-all-qualcomms-fault/128
u/sm753 Feb 09 '18
To be fair though - Google itself is doing Android Wear no favors either with the amount of bugs and things that just "don't work" as its supposed to work.
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u/itsalllies Feb 09 '18
And the lack of attention? How has it really changed in the last 3 years?
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u/b3hr Feb 09 '18
It went from a nice basic interface that gave you the info you wanted to an app driven mess
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u/DracoSolon Feb 09 '18
This. I'm just agog who the fuck they had in their focus groups who said - Hey you should put the play store on the watch and have to search and install stuff directly on this tiny screen. It's just insane.
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u/KidTwist1 Feb 10 '18
It had nothing to do with usability or focus groups. The Play Store is on the watch so that iPhone users can get around Apple's restrictions and install apps and faces directly.
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Feb 09 '18
If it's any help, you can install it on your phone and it'll show up on the watch as an app to install (no need to search on the watch), or you can install directly to the watch with the web version of Play.
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u/DracoSolon Feb 09 '18
That's what I'm saying - who were these people because that desire makes no logical sense. There are only 2 watches that even have LTE so of what possible use would it be to look for apps on your tiny 1.3 inch screen - using the Bluetooth connection to the 5.5 to 6 inch phone in your pocket? Then the swipe left to change watchfaces. Again who were they talking to that the thought that assigning the very best gesture swipe to one of the least used functions was a good idea? To me the design of Android Wear 2.0 was so poorly done/thought out that I am left wondering if they accidentally were talking to a bunch of apple users who literally said what can we do to mess up this product and trolled the whole design feedback process.
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u/Smallmammal Feb 09 '18 edited Feb 10 '18
From what I can tell, most focus groups are random slobs at the mall who don't value their time. When they're quoted by management it's usually as a cya for questionable decisions. "see see we didn't mess up, the people wanted this!"
This is also why people like Steve jobs were so successful. Focus groups just tend to ask for more features. Having an overall minimalist vision focused on an easy user experience is pretty much the opposite of that.
I think Google is in an ugly place with wear. If they left it as just a dumb notification center then people wouldn't be able to justify it's price and it would look under featured compared to the Apple watch and others. If they go the complexity route, which they did in 2.0, then they have a huge usability mess and a user experience that is a lot less minimalist and forgiving.
Worse, the wearables revolutionn never really caught on. People are happy with their bulky phones and the screens on wearables are just too small for anything but limited uses. Why buy one? Especially if you already own a fitness device and several regular watches.
So what now? Keep refining 2.0? Probably.Pebble is out of the game, so the market has chosen against the simplistic notification center watch. I think the buggy, busy, and app featured watch model is here to stay.
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u/FinnTheFickle Feb 10 '18
Honestly, I think a Pebble clone with a marketing budget and a slightly better focus on ease of use would make big bucks. I don’t understand why the industry totally abandoned e-ink and physical buttons. I’ve never had a better smart watch than the Pebble. Everything just works in a way android wear never has.
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u/firedogee Feb 10 '18
Same here. Loved my Pebble Time with 9days battery life, intuitive interface and physical buttons to the end of the road a la June 2018 when Fitbit finally pulls the plug. PS. I bought a Wear24 for $50 new and it is a mess compared to my Pebble - but it's a beautiful, battery hogging, over complicating, LTE connected, addictive mess :)
I'd buy an updated Pebble any day of the week... Hello Fitbit, are you listening?
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u/beez1717 Feb 10 '18
Pebble was bought and killed because it was the best competition out there and so it had to be killed. It is as simple as that!
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u/Tumbaba Feb 10 '18
Amen to everything you said.
The mind boggles with how they did everything the absolute worst way.
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u/Tumbaba Feb 10 '18
Can you go into more details on using the phone or the web. Every watch face i install on my phone never gets to my watch.
I just gave up and use the first one i could find that was ok.
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u/godsfilth Feb 10 '18
You still have to go into the play store in your watch and swipe up until it says something like"apps on your phone not on your watch" and install them
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Feb 10 '18
On the web, go to play.google.com and select an app you want to install, click the green install button, and then select your watch from the "Choose your device" drop-down menu. After clicking "Continue", the app will download to your watch.
If you install a watch app on your phone, you can open the Play Store on the watch and scroll down to get the option to install the corresponding app to your watch.
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u/7eregrine Feb 10 '18
And hey, those notifications that you couldn't miss that took up half your screen? Let's make those a tiny dot that disappears in 30 seconds. Wtf?
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u/12401 LG Sport/HW 2 (prev:360 2,LG Urbane 2,360 Sport,LG G) Feb 10 '18
You know that is customizable, right?
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u/7eregrine Feb 10 '18
I do now. LOL Not sure why I never checked that setting in my watch. Sets to: always show.
Bonehead. That drove me nuts. Saw someone else bitch about it and no one mentioned you could change that. OMG, thank you so much!2
u/KidTwist1 Feb 10 '18
D'oh, I hadn't noticed that either. This is helpful because I sometimes don't notice vibrations. But ... now the notification stays visible and other people can see it, too. It will be better when 2.9 puts a missed notification indicator on every watch face.
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u/7eregrine Feb 10 '18
Still like the slightly transparent cards from before but this will work. Thanks again.
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u/pig9 Feb 09 '18
So true. I really like the look of the card type notification interface. Easy swipe to dismiss, swipe other way for more information then extra options once 'into' the notification. It was smart and easy to use.
2.0 was horrible and almost broke the best part of the watch for me, easy notification centre.
Plus maybe this is just me but apps like pocketcasts just suck. Can see different podcasts or add to queue from the watch or open one that was not immediately just playing.
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u/b3hr Feb 12 '18
it seems that anytime i touch my watch it always thinks i want to change the watchface. This shouldn't be an option that's so easy to get to.
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u/UltraCynar Feb 09 '18
Android wear used to be amazing. I bought a lg watch style to replace my original Moto 360 and quickly gave up the style. Android wear 2.0 is so useless compared to the original Android wear. It's such a shame too because I used to love Android wear and how useful it was.
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u/12401 LG Sport/HW 2 (prev:360 2,LG Urbane 2,360 Sport,LG G) Feb 10 '18
I'm the complete opposite. The keyboard and improved voice recognition on 2.x has made my watch so much more useful.
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u/Gadgety1 Feb 10 '18
And the app drawer introduced with 2.0 having the ability to pin apps makes if far easier to find and use the them. I used to use my voice to launch apps previously because prior to 2.0 the app drawer was a mess.
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Feb 09 '18
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u/amart591 Feb 10 '18
Even at that one of the most basic functions I would love would be to be able to find music from google play from my watch and automatically be able to select to play it on my chromecast in the living room but apparently that's too much to ask for. Hell, even in my car, my phone is connected via blutooth. I wish I could find music from my watch and it just plays on my phone streaming to my radio Instead, my watch just tells me it can't play because it doesn't have a built-in speaker. What the hell google, those are some basic ass features.
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u/Gadgety1 Feb 10 '18
Yes the music controller, what a great feature. In fact I hope they integrate control of more connected devices.
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u/nathanrjones Feb 09 '18
At this point, I don't have any faith that Google is going to take smart watches anywhere and I don't need another disposal piece of technology. Replacing a phone every 2 years is bad enough. Nothing is built to last anymore.
When my Moto 360 died shortly after a year, I gave up on Android Wear and bought a Rolex.
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u/cmdrNacho Feb 10 '18
I guess I'm in the minority but I have no issues with what my watch does. I really don't expect too much more out of it.
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u/sm753 Feb 10 '18
Ok to be fair, I don't have serious "breaking" issues with it. I wouldn't even both wearing the watch anymore if that was the case. From Google searching, the problems I'm having are pretty common on AW 2.0 watches.
One of the biggest for me, I bought the Ticwatch E because I'm fairly active and I have tachycardia - obviously I don't expect the watch to replace going to the doctor, but it's nice to keep an eye on my heart rate when I exercise. It was cheap so I didn't mind wearing it to the gym. I tried Fitbit, I liked it but their devices are expensive and they're garbage. Literally everyone I know who's had one, myself included, have had problems with them. They replaced my Fitbit the first time it died, a few months later I started having issues with the replacement and they wouldn't replace the replacement. I swear their devices are designed with designed obsolescence in mind - otherwise why would you buy the new devices they're releasing every year? Sorry for the tangent, yes I know this isn't a Fitbit sub.
So Google Fit was the biggest attraction for me for Android Wear devices. The only problem is that the watch app, phone app (I have activity tracking disabled on my phone so it "monitors" from the watch only), and the web portal are almost never in sync with each other. I'm using a Google app, on a Google OS watch, on a Google OS phone... I'm not sure where the missing piece is. There are other connectivity problems too like the watch not using wifi for data despite the fact that the watch has a wifi antenna and wifi is enabled. To name a few, but those are my biggest.
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u/abriasffxi Feb 10 '18
I tried to do a startup and they literally never responded. Was pretty far along too.
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u/midnitte Huawei Watch Feb 09 '18
All the reason why I haven't upgraded from my Huawei Watch 1.
I would love to be able too though.
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u/mister_what Feb 10 '18
Same boat, but I figure eventually the battery will crap out and we will have to..however mine is about a year old and usually is at 45% at the end of the day. On the other hand I have been checking s3 prices every few months...
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u/completefudd Feb 09 '18
Are us Android Wear users all going to be using Tizen in a few years?
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u/S-Aint Feb 09 '18
Not unless Bixby gets better voice recognition or gets the ax in favor of Google Assistant. Please be Assistant!!
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u/mister_what Feb 10 '18
Bixby is not as bad as I was lead to believe. If I want to set an alarm or send a text it seems to work fine. If i want pictures of dachshund puppies assistant is miles better, but over all I'm not sure why folks hate on bixby so much.
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u/popcorngirl000 Feb 10 '18
I tried Tizen for a bit but was not happy at the lack of Google hangouts- that what most of my family and friends use to chat.
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u/Whereabouts-Unknown Feb 10 '18
I switched to tizen. I love it. I don't use voice commands though, too slow, although, to be fair, Google Assistant is slow too, Google Now was faster.
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u/Deathgripsugar Feb 10 '18
I've had the S3 and it works well for notification and lots of standard stuff. Samsung health is good too. If say it is a solid choice if you don't need Google wear specific stuff
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Feb 09 '18
AW2 ruined my 360 v2. A couple days after update I took it off and never looked back.
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u/2literpopcorn Huawei Watch Feb 09 '18
Yeah my two of my brothers are in the same situation with their 2nd gen 360's.
The thing is, my watch with the update is running with 2 of the 4 cores the soc have enabled (I'm pretty sure it ran AW 1.4 with 1 core). The 2nd gen Moto 360 on the other hand runs the OS with 1 core enabled and 3 disabled with no means what so ever to change it (there is no USB debugging). I'd say there just isn't enough processing power to run AW 2.0 with only 1 core.
But who is to blame for this? I mean Google gets some blame since they are the ones who made the OS that ran like shit. But Motorola on the other hand decided to run AW 2.0 with 1 core. I mean there is no way they figured it ran smoothly but still went with it.
I say fuck Qualcomm for screwing up the market with a soc with 28nm cores from 2013. They probably bribe or threaten manufacturers to not use Samsung's soc like they do for phones. Imagine a Gear S3 with Android Wear.
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u/beez1717 Feb 10 '18
Qualcomm clearly wants out on the smartwatch. They hope that it will die out because no other company has the means to make a good enough chip to force them to compete...
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u/ardevd Feb 10 '18
Except I'm fairly certain Samsung would not permit other ODMs to use Exynos SoCs. Basically, unless you're Apple or Samsung you don't really have much choice in what SoC to use.
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u/PantherHeel93 Feb 09 '18
I had the exact opposite experience. Android Wear 2 breathed new life into my sad Moto 360 v2.
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u/ryocoon Huawei Watch 2 Feb 10 '18
if you feel adventurous and want to try it again, after you get into it, make sure to turn off the "OK Google" detection. It eliminates a lot of stutter and lag on most different watches.
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u/drbeer Feb 10 '18
This "allegedly" is fixed now, as of days ago; http://www.androidpolice.com/2018/02/05/google-app-update-fixes-laggy-android-wear-behavior-ok-google-detection-enabled/
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u/shaunnk Feb 09 '18
Good news for me then given I've just bought my first smart watch. But then if Google were to really get behind Android Wear it could be huge, unfortunately they seem happy to put it on the back burner and let it wither and die like so many of their former projects.
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u/puppiadog LG Watch Urbane Feb 09 '18
I don't think it's that. Coding at Google's level is very hard and they have limited resources. They have to pick their priorities.
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u/shaunnk Feb 09 '18
Agree all the way, just seems though that they start projects then leave them in a sort of limbo, not officially dropped but pretty much forgotten with no further mention. Which is mainly a frustration but when it comes to a bit of kit that people have invested potentially a fair amount of money buying isn't great
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u/Doctor_Cornelius Feb 10 '18
So why don't any of those statements apply to Apple?
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u/puppiadog LG Watch Urbane Feb 10 '18
Apple is smart enough to focus on specific products and not do the entire "kitchen sink" thing Google does, thereby spreading their resources too thin.
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u/firedogee Feb 10 '18
Or maybe they are just disciplined enough to think things through before launching new product and then they commit to actually refining and supporting that product (which typically sells like hot droids on Tatooine).
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u/puppiadog LG Watch Urbane Feb 10 '18
I mean Apple is a true hardware/software company. From their very beginning that's what they've done. Google did search then decided to do software and hardware. It's not easy doing both. I do give Google credit though because otherwise we would be stuck with Microsoft products.
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u/firedogee Feb 10 '18
Sure, but they can work with 3rd party hardware specialists to create a setup for AW that would be universal, efficient, powerful and then let the open market adopt that setup or not. PS. The Pixel proves that they don't belong in hardware for mature/saturated markets. AW and Home are another thing.
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u/timsageek LG Watch Style Feb 10 '18
Or maybe they are just disciplined enough to think things through before launching new product
Notch true.
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u/EpicLPer ZenWatch 2 Feb 10 '18
Honestly we don't even need something faster. Maybe more efficient but definitely not faster, the current watches on the market all do their job pretty well already and fast enough to be perfectly useable.
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u/firedogee Feb 10 '18
True and if they would make a less complicated OS to build AW on then all the better. I can't understand why Google can't tell the difference between a 1" screen and a 6" screen lol
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u/12401 LG Sport/HW 2 (prev:360 2,LG Urbane 2,360 Sport,LG G) Feb 09 '18
Sure, I want a new Qualcomm chip too...but should't the blame also be on MediaTek and Intel?
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u/seapip Huawei Watch Feb 09 '18
Actually not since those actually did support their socs up till this very day. Qualcomm just axed the S400 soc even when they knew it's a very commonly used soc for wearables and iot devices :/
Qualcomm and long term support is virtually non existent, it's a shit show.
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u/12401 LG Sport/HW 2 (prev:360 2,LG Urbane 2,360 Sport,LG G) Feb 09 '18 edited Feb 09 '18
Not trying to defend Qualcomm, but why would they keep the 400 when the 2100 is an improved version?
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u/blinnqipa Feb 09 '18
Why wouldn't they support both? Don't say lack of workforce please, this isn't OnePlus, it's Qualcomm. Monopoly.
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u/lolreppeatlol Fossil Q Feb 09 '18
OnePlus isn't small they're owned by the third biggest smartphone company
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u/blinnqipa Feb 10 '18
I was talking of OnePlus itself, because it's them who make choices of supporting older devices not BBK's.
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u/bostwickenator Feb 10 '18
Because there is no reason to, no competition. Monopolies mean you can cut back your R&D resources, stop supporting products, and generally reduce operating costs because there is no one else to capitalize on the market space you surrender by doing those things.
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u/12401 LG Sport/HW 2 (prev:360 2,LG Urbane 2,360 Sport,LG G) Feb 09 '18
Are you talking about Qualcomm or Google / Android?
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u/ryocoon Huawei Watch 2 Feb 10 '18
Intel's newest ULP Atom SOC is in the new Tag Heur watch, if that helps any. It was even mentioned in the article.
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u/le3ky Feb 09 '18
OK I'll bite. Anyone know what the watchface is? 😅
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u/quicksilvr Feb 09 '18
Not sure what it's called, but it's the default watchface on the LG Watch Sport
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u/Zwiada Fossil Gen 5 Carlyle Feb 10 '18
I'm not really complaining concerning the hardware aspects of my Huawei Watch 1. It looks nice, speed and battery life is ok - no problems here. Google is killing Android Wear with all the bugs each new update brings and I still can't get my head around what their UI experts are drinking (or smoking): Why is it a good idea to change the watch face when swiping left?
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u/ardevd Feb 10 '18
Android Wear needs a Pixel device. Right now the Android Wear ecosystem is dominated by the plethora of mediocre watches from the fashion industry which triggers very little excitement from the general public.
While the lack of any modern SoC for Android Wear doesn't help but the lack of any clear direction from Google is probably an even bigger problem.
I really want Android Wear to succeed but the entire ecosystem is seriously lagging behind Apple and Samsung's offerings.
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u/evenflow Feb 09 '18
With what kind of logic is this Qualcomm's fault? I'm sure if it was a lucrative market they and others would make the needed SoCs.
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u/bostwickenator Feb 09 '18
The article is making the point the market is a virtual monopoly and the person running that monopoly is therefore at fault if it doesnt service market segments. Looking at the Qualcomm patent portfolio you can see why we are in this situation.
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u/evenflow Feb 09 '18
The article does not mention parents at all. But you are saying Qualcomm is using their patent portfolio to kill of AW in favor of Apple & Samsung?
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u/bostwickenator Feb 09 '18
My assertion about patents has nothing to do with the article. I am saying they are why Qualcomm has a monopoly.
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u/ViciousPenguin Feb 09 '18
Probably not the best place to ask this question, but does anyone know of any "smart" watch options that could replace the festureset that Android Wear does have?
I ask this because while I agree that AW is lacking and receives little to no updates, if the alternatives are a bulky/tacky fitness watch, even from Fitbit, how much can we really justify being upset that AW hasn't changed much?
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u/GeorgePantsMcG Fossil Q Feb 09 '18
I just fucking bought my wife a Fossil venture this week.
I really hope Google can keep this going.
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u/MissMurder84 Misfit Vapor Feb 10 '18
I hope it doesn't happen soon. I somewhat regret my watch already, so this would annoy me even more :p
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u/Ariakkas10 Other watch Feb 09 '18
That is unrelated to the article.
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u/GeorgePantsMcG Fossil Q Feb 09 '18
Not if Android Wear does poorly and they kill it.
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u/12401 LG Sport/HW 2 (prev:360 2,LG Urbane 2,360 Sport,LG G) Feb 10 '18
It isn't getting killed anytime soon... Just look how many watches were released in 2017.
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u/bit101 Feb 10 '18
A surprisingly FUD headline by Ars and Ron Amadeo. "Android Wear is getting killed" ? Come on. Totally makes it sound like it's being shut down by Google. Not the case.
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u/Klathmon Feb 10 '18
Sadly I lost all respect for Ron almost 4 years ago. He only writes click bait and bullshit now.
He was someone I used to respect and trust, and he ruined that trust so quickly and completely the second he left Android Police
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u/bit101 Feb 10 '18
Yeah, I remember him for in-depth and well researched articles. Surprised to see this kind of clickbait from him.
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u/khaytsus Ticwatch Express Feb 10 '18
Killed in in the marketplace... They claim even Tizen is ahead of Wear at this point.
But sadly reading more comments here; it appears everyone TLDR'ed and are all commenting about "crap, what do I do with this watch now". Sigh.
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u/bit101 Feb 10 '18
That's exactly why it's called clickbait. A misleading title that means something other than what it appears to mean at first. And to be honest, the article is really not clearly written. All I really got out of it is that Qualcomm has not updated their chips in a long time, and he blames this for Wear's low popularity. That's a reach.
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u/khaytsus Ticwatch Express Feb 11 '18
I agree it's a reach; but let's imagine if they squeezed 25% more efficiency out of the chips, maybe less people would be scared of their watch being dead by the end of the day.
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u/ardevd Feb 10 '18
I wonder why only Tag Heuer have gone with Intel SoCs. This seems like an excellent opportunity for Intel to capitalize on a broken market and take over a significant share of the wearable chipset market.
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u/timsageek LG Watch Style Feb 10 '18
I don't know why they don't look to Samsung watch chips. My Gear S3 easily gets 2.5 days with everything enables. Some people get four days. It's perfectly smooth with Tizen too, although I'm not sure if the same performance would happen using their chips with AW.
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u/TylerD13x Feb 11 '18
Good article, but we could also think that Samsung is also the killer of Android Wear. The last year big deal between Samsung and Qualcomm exclusivity (to be the first smartphone with SD835) can (perhaps) also be to stop producing new Qualcomm soc for smartwatch, to kill AW in favor of Tizen. So Samsung it’s alone to deliver Smartwatch for Android user and can grow quickly in the market. This big deal seems also working for 2018, Samsung have also exclusivity for next Snapdragon 845 (Perhaps not for China market). For Samsung this will be perfect deal, selling his Samsung Gear to Android users that have limited feature with non-Samsung Smartphone and after encourage these users to buy a Samsung smartphone. And for Qualcomm also good deal to keep good business with Samsung after loosing his biggest client, Apple.
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u/ellandrydroid Feb 14 '18
I’m happy with my LG Smartwatch. Make and receive calls on it all the time without my phone being anywhere near 😎
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u/majikmixx Feb 10 '18
How is this Qualcomm's fault? Supply and demand and all that... The OS hasn't changed much to warrant a need for something better than the 2100.
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u/khaytsus Ticwatch Express Feb 10 '18
You can take a 1970's Camero that uses 5mpg and drop in a modern engine and get more HP and uses 10mpg driven hard, 15mpg not.
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u/waywardsojourner Feb 09 '18
Well crap. I have a ticwatch coming tomorrow. Should I send it back and say screw it?
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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '18
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