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Earlier this month LG revealed their latest smart watch, the LG Watch Urbane. It’s an all-metal round device that looks as good as it functions and could be a stylish accessory to any attire.
And now they’ve announced a variant that will come with LTE, GPS and other nice features. One other thing it does have that the other model does? Android Wear. LG will instead use their “Wearable Platform,” which we suspect is based on webOS and could be the same mystery smart watch they were seen toting around the show floors of CES.
The watch comes with three physical buttons despite having a nice 1.3-inch 320 x 320 OLED display. The top button gets you to quick settings toggles and information about battery, volume and connection. The middle button swaps between the watch face and a list of apps you have installed. Finally, the bottom has two functions: a quick press acts as back, while a long press is a distress function that will automatically dial any preset phone number you choose (obviously in cases of dire emergency, or for those spouses who just can’t stop talking to each other all day).
Here’s how the full spec sheet reads:
- Chipset: 1.2GHz Qualcomm® SnapdragonTM 400
- Operating System: LG Wearable Platform
- Display: 1.3-inch P-OLED (320 x 320 / 245ppi)
- Network: LTE
- Memory: 4GB eMMC / 1GB LPDDR3
- Battery: 700mAh
- Sensors: 9 Axis / Barometer / PPG / GPS
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b, g, n / Bluetooth 4.0LE / NFC
- Color: Silver
- Other: Dust and Water Resistant (IP67) / Speaker / Microphone
Nothing crazy on that front, but definitely solid. The question now has to be “what next?” What sort of support can we see from this “Wearable Platform” by LG.
The company hasn’t mentioned an effort to court developers to make apps for the platform so we’ll have to see just how good the ecosystem can be. That could be the difference between an exciting and successful new smart watch operating system vs vaporware that gets overlooked for established marketplaces like Android Wear provides.
[via LG]
I am not a fan of WebOS but the watch looks really nice…
Well, the renders certainly look nice. I don’t think we’ve seen any actual photos yet. I’m a little concerned about the smallish 1.3″ screen size. It will be interesting to see just how big that bezel looks when it finally comes out.
I actually really enjoy the iteration of WebOS on LG Smart TVs. Not sure how well that would translate to the tiny screen, though.
“One other thing it does have that the other model does? Android Wear. ”
Doesn’t.
Thanks Captain Grammar. Knowledge is power!
Your’re welcome, but it wasn’t a grammatical correction.
As long as the watch will pair/work with other non-LG phones, I don’t think the lack of Android Wear on-board will be as big of a sales killer as the cost.
I would’ve bought the gear s over the moto 360 in a heartbeat if it would’ve worked with non Samsung phones. I’m really starting to hate my moto 360. Bring on the 2nd gen Wear devices that have a speaker!
What do you hate about it?
I expect it to work with non-LG devices, they’re not Samsung. Then again it may only work on its own and not connect to any phone.
I know nothing about these kinds of watches, but this one looks pretty nice. How does its running webOS vs. Android Wear effect its usability, ability to install custom faces, etc?
So, what happens when the battery dies? Do I have to pay LG $100 to change it?
It doesn’t look too difficult: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/LG+G+Watch+R+Teardown/35469
“…gets overlooked for established marketplaces like Android Wear provides”
Really? Cuz other than 1-3 ‘useful’ apps I just have a bunch of faces downloaded. A lot of apps just add basic functionality that I’m sure webOS can bring out of the box.