A tweet from the Motorola Mobility account of Motorola on Twitter revealed that the expected Android Wear 5.1.1 update for the Moto 360 smartwatch has been delayed due to performance problems.
The delay is a huge letdown for Moto 360 owners, as other smartwatches powered by Google's Android Wear operating system for wearable devices have already received the Android Wear 5.1.1 update.
"Performance is not quite there yet," tweeted Motorola in response to a question regarding the anticipated update for the Moto 360.
Motorola added that the company is currently working with Google to make sure that the operating system will function well once it is released for the smartwatch.
Updating Android Wear to version 5.1.1 for some Android Wear-based smartwatches brought Wi-Fi support to the devices, and the Moto 360 is in line to also receive the new feature once the update is rolled out to it. The three other smartwatches that has received Wi-Fi support from the Android Wear 5.1.1 update are LG's Watch Urbane, Sony's Smartwatch 3 and Samsung's Gear Live.
LG's G Watch R, however, has been revealed to only receive the Wi-Fi support feature in a maintenance update to be released in the future.
With Android Wear 5.1.1, the five aforementioned devices will be able to stay paired with an Android-powered smartphone even if the Bluetooth connection is broken through Wi-Fi networks. However, the Wi-Fi networks that the smartwatches can connect with to allow them to achieve this functionality is limited to the ones that have been used before by the Android smartphones that is paired to the Android Wear devices.
Other new features added by upgrading to Android Wear 5.1.1 include always-on apps, font size options and emoji support.
Motorola decided to use the "underpowered" TI OMAP 3 for the Moto 360, and Android news website Phandroid believes that this decision has led to the performance issues currently being experienced by the smartwatch with the Android Wear 5.1.1 update.
However, confirmation from Motorola is a good thing to keep hopes alive that the Android Wear update is still coming to the Moto 360 despite the delayed release. The company working on the update is also a good sign.
