LG is targeting the luxury market with its latest smartwatch, announced today.LG has advised it will unveil an all-metal Android Wear device, in the form of the LG Watch Urbane, “designed for a sophisticated and cosmopolitan wearer”, at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the beginning of March.
Like the LG G Watch R, the Urbane is circular in design and features the same 1.3″ full-circle P-OLED display, with LG stating the Urbane is “more formal with a thinner profile”, with a narrower bezel.
The Urbane’s stainless steel body is available in a polished silver and gold finish, and it comes with a natural leather strap, replaceable with any 22 mm-wide band, with LG stating it is suitable for both men and women.
“LG Watch Urbane is an important part of our strategy to develop wearable devices that are worn and viewed as everyday accessories, not electronic gadgets,” commented Juno Cho, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company president and CEO.
The Urbane is powered by a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, runs on a 410 mAh battery, has 4 GB memory, features a touch-based
user interface, and is compatible with smartphones running Android 4.3 and above.
Like the G Watch R, the Urbane includes a sensor that can measure the wearer’s heart rate and average pulse during exercise, while always-on ambient mode shows the time on the display at all times in dimmed mode, saving battery life.
LG will be hoping the Urbane can find a niche in the increasingly competitive wearables market, with recent Canalys figures showing Android Wear got off to something of a slow start last year, with over 720,000 Android Wear devices shipped.
LG states pricing will be announced in local markets at the time of availability.
