Back in 2014, Google's Android Wear defined the modern smartwatch. The company beat Apple's Watch to market, and was the superior product for a good year after that. Even as Apple's product improved, it seemed Android Wear would maintain the advantage. Nothing can compete with Google's Artificial Intelligence, and AI made navigating on a tiny watch display easy.

While you needed to hunt and peck for information on an Apple Watch, Android Wear had read all your emails, knew all your upcoming appointments, and how bad traffic was between where you were standing and where you needed to be next. The watch made pre-emptive suggestions, so useful information was always bubbling up on the display.

But Android Wear had a problem – it was pretty damned ugly. Behind the glossy watch faces, the rest of the interface looked like it was designed by Fisher Price. It had none of the cool of Apple, or even the Material Design language Android was developing.

Google acknowledged this, and over a year ago it promised a redesign with Android Wear 2.0. The update was originally slated for a September release last year, but was delayed until early 2017. The effect of this year-long pause in software has flowed through to hardware.

Sony, LG and Huawei delayed new device announcements, and late last year the company behind Android Wear's most iconic device, Motorola, decided to bow out of the watch game completely. HTC abandoned its plans for a watch back in January, and Asus is rumoured to be giving up as well.

Android Wear, once the belle of the ball at Mobile World Congress, was hard to find in 2017. Only Huawei and LG featured watches in their keynote presentations, and a few months later, neither company has brought its Android Wear 2.0 devices to Australia.

We'll never see the LG Sport here. The 4G model is not compatible with Australia's mobile networks, and we're just too small a market for LG to develop one for us. But there's nothing stopping the company bringing its Wi-Fi-powered Style to Australia, beyond an apparent lack of interest.

Huawei's Watch 2 has been rumoured to arrive for the past few months, but there's still no firm date. Meanwhile, the few Android Wear watches already in the Australian market can be divided into those still waiting for the 2.0 update, and those that will never receive it.

During Android Wear's time in the wilderness, Apple's Watch has smartened up. Last year, Apple's 3.0 software update simplified the interface, making all interactions faster. And while Apple's AI is nowhere near as powerful as Google's, an Apple Watch is now at least smart enough to alert you with travel time to upcoming events, or for regular journeys like your commute home. Ironically, with Google Assistant available for iOS, the Apple Watch is now even smarter. – While Android Wear is stuck in a holding pattern, the Apple Watch is constantly improving, and far easier to purchase in Australia.

Despite all this, Daniel Tyson, editor of Android enthusiast site Ausdroid, is still somewhat optimistic. He notes that while "typical tech partners" seem to be backing away from the platform, Google is developing new partnerships with more traditional watchmakers.

"Major fashion brands like TAG Heuer, Hugo Boss, Nixon and Movado announced Android Wear devices, and there are watches coming from Fossil and Michael Kors later in the year. Even Casio shipped an Android Wear watch in January, but there's still no local release information for that," he said.

"But really, it's the usual slow rollout, we just get an added penalty for living in Australia. We're either overcharged or forced to wait indefinitely for new devices to arrive."