14 DAY TRIAL // When Google released the Android Wear operating system last year, it was pretty much a given that everyone making a smartwatch would use it, except Apple if it ever got seriously involved in this market. Now, though, there are stirrings against that move.
Maybe we should have seen it coming. While Android Wear proved quickly to be a good platform for app development and smartwatch design, it's still a young platform all the same.
Young enough that the marketing momentum behind it isn't too strong to withstand a good kick in the side if administered well enough.
LG wants to administer that kick, and it has chosen the WebOS operating system to do it. Which is to say, the smartwatch it brought to CES 2015 uses WebOS.
The WebOS smartwatch from LG
LG didn't really hold a smartwatch announcement in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not really. Instead, it teased a watch during Audi's event, when Ulrich Hackenberg briefly showed the unannounced watch to summon a self-driving car to the stage.
Now, we finally have confirmation that yes, that really was a WebOS smartwatch from LG, thanks to the people at Android Central.
From the pictures of the settings menu, we can see that the watch already has the ability to connect to cellular data networks like T-Mobile.
That means you won't need to have the watch constantly connected to a smartphone via Wi-Fi. Instead, you’ll receive notifications (like messages, e-mails etc.) independently from it.
Moreover, the watch can send messages itself and even call people through the built-in dialer and messages app.
All in all, the LG WebOS smartwatch is a true smart electronic device rather than a fancy extension to a smartphone.
Add to that a good build quality (reportedly superior to that of LG's other smartwatches launched so far) and we can be pretty certain that LG won't bother with Android Wear from here out.
The fact that WebOS is an open software development platform will make it easy and affordable for developers to create apps for it. True, it's as blatant a challenge to Google's Android Wear OS as it can get, but we won't say no to some excitement.
Availability and pricing
Sadly, we don't know them. LG didn't disclose either at the Consumer Electronics Show 2015 and didn't hint at when an update would be coming. It could be anything from days to months.
