LG were one of the first smartphone makers to enter into the smartwatch market. The G Watch and G Watch R are considered two of the best android based smartwatches on the market right now, not that it’s a great pool to begin with. But LG just announced the LG Urbane, something to rival Apple as they prepare to release the Apple Smartwatch or iWatch.
Unlike its previous watches, the new LG Urbane has the appearance of a classic timepiece that it’s marketing as a unisex watch, rather than the standard market of well without wanting to generalise to much but geeky white men who think they are cool. They aren’t. The LG Watch Urbane comes in silver or gold with leather strap, which can be changed out for any standard 22mm strap.
The watch maintains the G Watch R’s 1.3-inch, circular plastic OLED face but is the Korean company’s first all-metal smartwatch. The device runs Android Wear and is powered by a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chip.
“The LG Watch Urbane’s classic design and smart features make it the perfect smartwatch to complement our G Watch and G Watch R, which were designed as more casual and active devices,” is the quote from Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Mobile.
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LG is apparently going to show off the LG Watch Urbane at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this month. So expect more information about it then.
The company’s decision to try and market a watch to a broader market is no surprise just weeks before the Apple Watch is expected. The Apple Watch is likely to be adopted much quicker than any Android watch partly to do with design and also because it’s Apple and apparently that’s cool. Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an April launch date for the watch.
The only timepiece that looks good on your wrist is an Analogue one, digital has never really caught on and carries a sort of stigma around it as being for kids and nerds. Smartwatches masquerading as Analogue watches could be exactly what the market needs.