LG’s G Watch R is still our favourite Android Wear wrist rocket, thanks mostly to the sleek design, and it looks like LG will stay the front-runner for a wee bit longer thanks to its latest model, the Watch Urbane.
Design-wise, the Urbane looks a hell of a lot like the G Watch R. You get the same gorgeous screw-free polished metal finish, either silver or gold depending on how bling you like it, but now the bezels surrounding that 1.3-inch OLED screen are a little thinner. And of course you get an attractive leather strap to finish off the look – or a metal strap if you’d prefer the rugged look.
I personally prefer the silver model as the gold looks a little garish, but each to their own. Either way, it’s still a solid-looking and serious timepiece. And of course, how much you love it will depend on your reaction to chunky wearables – the Watch Urbane stands out quite far from your wrist, which is fine if you have quite girthy, manly arms, but can look a little silly if you sport spindly limbs like myself.
Still, the Watch Urbane is definitely one of the better-looking Android Wear devices, with non of that flat-bottomed screen nonsense that the Moto G had. The screen is bright, bold and clear, and fully responsive to your jabs and pokes. And of course you can glide through the menus thanks to the Snapdragon 400 processor, with no lag or stuttering.
Sadly the Watch Urbane doesn’t seem to solve the problem of rubbish battery life on wearables, with a 400mAh battery crushed inside. The Watch Urbane LTE fares better with a 700mAh battery, although that watch also has to contend with 4G connectivity, so chances are both timepieces will last maybe a day and a half tops.
And LG has packed in all of the features you’d expect, including a gyro, accelerometer, compass and a heart rate monitor built into the back.
We’ll bring you a full LG Watch Urbane review soon.
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