Watch OS 1.0.1 includes performance improvements and bug fixes for Siri, measuring stand activity, calculating calories for indoor cycling and rowing workouts, distance and pace during outdoor walk and run workouts, accessibility, and third-party apps. The software update also includes support for new emojis found in iOS 8.3 and provides additional language support for Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Thai, and Turkish.
Download it through the Apple Watch application on your phone.
Meanwhile, the big Android Wear 5.1.1 update is available by buying the new LG Watch Urbane, or for LG ZenWatch owners. Oh Google.
So the Android Wear update is only available for 2 watches? Those damn carriers! Oh, wait …
Umm… No. Those are 2 watches that shipped with it, that doesn’t mean it is only available on those watches. It is available for all existing Android Wear watches. It has already started rolling out OTA (slowly):
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/android-wear…
However, only the following watches are getting the much anticipated wifi support:
LG Watch Urbane
Moto 360
Sony Smartwatch 3
Samsung Gear Live
presumably because they are the only watches with the requisite hardware*.
* – the LG G Watch R has wifi hardware supposedly but LG pretends it doesn’t and won’t support it, so its probably broken or something. Big mystery apparently.
There was always manufacturer testing, even with something as vanilla as the Moto X. That’s what we’re seeing right now with 5.1.1. Its easy to compile the new version, but that doesn’t mean that everything works as expected with the hardware. There are a few tweaks that need to be worked out with the hardware to get the most out of it.
To really solve this kind of thing to have an all at once update, Google would have to do what MS did with windows phone: approve only a few hardware configurations and disallow any others. I guess they could compete on style?
Actually, they could compete on good performance, camera, AND battery life, which I think only one Android phone in the past couple of years smaller than 5.5″ has managed to get right.
No, they could not do any of that if google took a MS approach to it and said Choose one of these three hardware configs. No choice in camera, battery size, cpu/gpu. Any hardware differentiation, would lead to delays in getting releases out. But if they are standardized, google can optimize on the standard platforms, press a button ans whoilia Instant Updates!
Well, that’s fine. Just let ’em standardize on good hardware for high-end, mid-range, and low-end. At least I might have one or two decent phones to choose from in the 5″ range instead of zero.
Yeah that would be nice. In all reality, very little hardware differentiation exists:
Add on chips to aid with Voice commands
Battery/ micro sd
waterproofing
screen size
screen tech (IPS vs Amoled)
finger print reader
camera
NFC
dual sim
Very little of that really matters to me. Maybe one day Google will do this with the Android One line. Until then, I think I’m sticking with nexus or motorola.
I have a few watches, and I’ve had them for a few years, but I have yet to receive a software update.
And, I’ve been waiting. They all make this weird ticking sound, and I’m hoping that can be fixed with a proper update.
Noob!! Everyone knows you need a mechanical phone to update a mechanical watch.
I thought that was the case, but, damn, dialing all those 9s and 0s was just too much of a pain.
Allow me to clarity: A mechanical watch is something that exists, whereas a smart watch doesn’t exist because you can’t see software. But things that exist cost money, so if you want to update your mechanical watch – with a mechanical update -, you’ll need a payphone so you can properly pay for your update. Or did you think the update comes for free?! 🙂
Sounds like they need an ssd.
Better hold on to the EcoDrive series .. At some point Apple will make it their own invention.
Hmm, My watch hasn’t ticked ever.
http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/parenting/2009/10/21/casi…
You might want to consult a hearing specialist and/or mental health care professional. There are procedures and medications that will help with these kinds of ailments.
Did you mean Asus ZenWatch instead of LG?
Does the world care? I haven’t seen one layman on the street complaining that his Galaxy S(whatever) or random midrange Galaxy or other Android phone didn’t got that upgrade.
In fact, most people I ask think of OS upgrades as nuisances (the apps can be updated easily via the PlayStore), because after 4.1 the added features are few. Even 5.0, which was supposed to be a much-desired upgrade offering better performance and battery life ended up ruining performance and battery life on existing devices.
Sooner or later, Thom needs to realize that the needs of the vast layman majority are sometimes different than the needs of the geek crowd. I ‘ll let you guess which crowd Google cares most about.
It’s like PC gamers complaining about console ports not streching their systems. Hint: Companies keep the graphics of cross-platform games on a Mac/laptop friendly level because that’s where the money from the vast majority is.
Edited 2015-05-20 11:58 UTC
The world should care, because there are known vulnerabilities in older Android versions.
http://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-1224/product…
http://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-1224/product…
http://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-1224/product…
Edited 2015-05-20 12:10 UTC
Should they? Google Chrome gets patched even on old devices, so that takes care of malicious sites and malvertizing (the way most people get hacked), and having untrusted sources off by default and having app verify updated via PlayServices prevents malicious apk’s too (unless you are a geek messing with the security settings). And most vulnerabilities of the core OS are not the “red 10” kind.
Unlike Microsoft’s “let’s glue everything onto the OS” way (even Windows Defender is glued-on and can’t be auto-updated separately), Google has opted for a minimal base OS, and everything else (browser, maps, hangouts, app verify) is an app running on top and hence updated separately. And PlayServices always acts as the silent updater for basic things (like app verify) anyway.
And even if users should care, they won’t. Otherwise Samsung wouldn’t be selling as much as they do, and everyone would be running Nexuses. Even if you are correct, Google’s way is evolutionary (economically) superior, so geeks (like me and you) whining about upgrades is pointless.
Edited 2015-05-20 14:17 UTC
This made a difference on my watch. iPhone-driven apps are still too slow to sync, but I guess that will be fixed once native apps are allowed.
One think I noticed is that the slight visual lags in glance-swipes are now completely gone. Everything is no fluid, which I cannot say about my wifes LG watch. What a horrible laggy piece of crap, which never gets updated…
Google – get your update-act together.