The Android Wear bandwagon keeps rolling on - nobody knows why, but for some reason brands keep making smartwatches based on the platform.
And the thing is, as is the case with the LG Watch Urbane, they're actually getting rather good. This watch looks the part, has all the specs you'd hope for in a device of this nature, and wouldn't look out of place on the wrist of a smart business person.
But that doesn't mean it will sell - Android Wear is still too nascent a platform, with too many limitations, to be considered as a viable choice right now.
If you ARE dead set on buying one though, the Urbane isn't a bad choice.
Design
The Urbane is a clean, metallic watch with the ability to change the straps with generic straps if you've got the dexterity and gumption to do so.
It's shiny metal too, which adds to the premium effect, although that sucks up fingerprints like nothing else.
The single button on the side is similar to the one on most Android phones (functioning as a power button as well as a method of manually dimming the screen) and is nice and easy to hit without having to fumble about too much.
The weight is good too: the watch doesn't feel massive or chunky on the wrist (unlike the Urbane's cousin, the Urbane LTE) and genuinely could be mistaken for a non-smartwatch, with the right face slapped on the front.
Specs
The LG Watch Urbane is a timepiece that has all the normal specs you'd expect from an Android Wear device - which means essentially this is the G Watch R rebooted with a shiny frame.
A 320 x 320 pixel P-OLED 1.3-inch screen sits on top of a Snapdragon 400 chipset, clocked at 1.2GHz and 1 GB of RAM. There's 4GB of onboard storage and the ability to install your own music on there as well for tunes without a phone.
The Urbane infuriatingly still doesn't come with GPS - LG's reasoning for this is that it will kill battery life, but given you'll get around 30 hours of use out of this watch between charges anyway, it seems like daily re-powering is the only way forward here, so a little extra functionality wouldn't go amiss.
The heart rate monitor on the back, combined with the barometer and acclerometer inside, make it a good watch to us when walking out and about in the wild - but then again, there are many other devices that are equally as stylish that are better suited to the task.
Android Wear
Given this is just a rebadged G Watch R, there's not a lot that can be said about the interface that really moves the conversation on. It's still stuck on Android Wear 2.0 - I say stuck as it's quite limited as a platform as Google looks to keep a tighter hold on the evolution of its wearable screen.
The swipes are responsive and the palm-cover method of dimming the screen exists just as you'd hope - plus LG still has the decent always on dim screen so you'll always be able to look at the time. It's so infuriating to have to tap the watch to see the time when we've spent years being able to just glance down, so I'm glad LG's done that.
Early verdict
The technology early adopter in me hates this, but I still can't recommend Android Wear - or any smartwatch for that matter. It's not because the platform isn't useful - I genuinely love getting notifications to my wrist, and I believe that it's far more convenient than getting my phone out my pocket - but it just costs too much in both time and money.
Having to charge these things daily is not good enough for something that people are used to lasting months at a time, and the fact they're at least three times the cost of a normal watch makes them too unpalatable.
That said, if you're willing to pay the sky high cost of the LG Watch Urbane then you'll get one of the best and most stylish Android Wear watches on the market.
The Watch Urbane is a clear early assault on the Apple Watch, and if you're against the Cupertino timepiece, then this is probably the device you should go for - just be sure you really want one first.
from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1EXOIPC
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