HUAWEI Watch is gone from the Play Store, Michael Kors replaces it

Arguably the best-looking Android Wear smartwatch, the HUAWEI Watch is officially gone from the Play Store, only to be replaced by a gaudy Michael Kors smartwatch.

The HUAWEI Watch is now over a year old but is still considered the best that Android Wear can offer: which says something about Google’s wearable ecosystem as a whole. Indeed, it ticked a lot of boxes. It had a perfectly circular display with a high resolution – no flat tires here – and looked premium. But it also had a premium price tag (at least when it launched). What ultimately deterred me from buying HUAWEI’s smartwatch was its lack of ambient sensors, which meant the user had to manually adjust the brightness.

Notwithstanding all that, the HUAWEI Watch was a refined device that ultimately showed Android Wear’s potential vis-à-vis Apple’s offering. Alas, the HUAWEI Watch is no longer available from the Play Store. Though it’s been removed from Google’s official selection, the standard Watch and all the other variants are still available for purchase directly through HUAWEI as well as on other third-party websites like Amazon.

With the HUAWEI Watch gone, who’s going to fill the empty slot, you may ask. Unless you are a huge fan of Michael Kors, the answer may disappoint you. Google has added Michael Kors’ new Android Wear smartwatch, the Access Bradshaw, to its offerings. This is the fashion brand’s second Android Wear device following the Access Dylan, both of which cost $350 (at least the gold model of the Bradshaw).

Without any doubt, Michael Kors was going for an elegant, high-end design with the Bradshaw unlike the Dylan, but things couldn’t be any more disastrous. Inside the watch, we find all the same boring specs we’ve been seeing for a long time now: Snapdragon 2100, 400 mAh battery, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of storage. If its internals aren’t disappointing enough, the outside is worse.

The entire watch is plated in gold (at least the one available from the Play Store), and even the watch face has billions of gold sparkles twinkling. What could be worse than an all-gold, gaudy design? A gold flat tire. Yes, Michael Kors’ new watch comes with a bright gold flat tire sitting right underneath an incomplete circular display. If Moto 360’s relatively inconspicuous black flat tire wasn’t annoying enough, try the Access Bradshaw.

Needless to say, Android Wear is seeing a bit of a change. Conventional Android OEMs – the tech companies – are moving away from it as traditional watch makers like Fossil and fashion brands like MK or Armani are filling the gap. That may not be a bad thing if you’re looking for a decent smartwatch that complements your fashion, but in terms of technological development, it makes me wonder if I should be paying more attention to Tizen.