LG have just issued an update to their G Watch, which runs on the Google Wear platform. The LG G Watch update doesn’t appear to have made any difference to the overall functionality, but rather has been deployed to change the way the exposed charging points turn on and off.
See, on the G Watch, there are 4 very small pins on the underside of the watch, which when placed on the charging plate that comes with the Google Wear watch, charge the G Watch. Apparently the pins remain in an on state even when not placed on the charger, which is causing discomfort and even potential burns to some users.
I’ve been using the G Watch since it was released, and to be honest only during daytime “work hours”, so potentially I haven’t had it on for long enough periods for it to be of concern.
However, when I did see the LG G Watch Update, I got quite excited. Maybe there’s an update to Google Wear overall which will bring even more functionality, extend battery life or some other user experience improvement?
Sadly not at this stage, but the whole idea of the terminal pins did put a thought into my head: what if those pins could somehow be used to generate a charge from the wearer’s skin?
I was certain I’d seen some recent news on human skin being used to power devices. And yep, sure enough, I was right – researchers at the Peking University have been able to build a tiny generator from the taps of a finger onto a mobile phone.
Now, of course it’s a long shot from a lab experiment to commercial reality, but how cool would it be for a smartwatch to be powered by the user as opposed to being charged via a micro USB, as it currently is? Traditional watches have long used the power of kinetics to maintain a battery charge, and of course there is a much larger power drain on smartwatches.
So, it’s good to hear that the LG G Watch update addresses an issue that could be otherwise cause discomfort, or worse (!) for a user, but right now one of the best updates would to focus on improving longevity.
Do you have receive an LG G Watch update if you own one? Were you one of the unlucky ones that rashed up, and did this update fix the problem?