LG fancies up its G Watch R with silver and gold

Android watches don’t generally arrive with the same schmick fashion sense as Apple’s own Watch, but LG is going to try to win people over with a fancier smartwatch, arriving in Australia as the “Urbane”.

The word may not be familiar, and it might even look like someone has plonked an “e” on the end of “urban” without any regard for the English language, but this is a word that suggests being refined, and that’s what LG appears to be going for in the G Watch Urbane.

In fact, this watch takes the same basic design and schematic as the LG G Watch R and makes the body look a little sleeker and nicer, with a silver body starting the line-up and a possibility of pink gold arriving later on.

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Under the hood, it’s the same G Watch R we saw late last year, with a circular plastic OLED (P-OLED) display meaning 1.3 inches, a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, and a few sensors providing accelerometer, compass, barometer, and heart rate tracking.

Google’s Android Wear runs on this device, just like on the G Watch R, so LG isn’t taking control of the software, and you’ll find a 410mAh battery underneath, too.

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That is spec-for-spec identical to the G Watch R, with the difference on this one appearing to be solely based in the body, bringing with it a more polished metal casing with more of that IP67 water and dust resistance and a more fashionable wrist strap.

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“The LG Watch Urbane’s classic design and smart features make it the perfect smartwatch to complement our handsets,” said LG Australia’s Phillip Anderson.

“I see the LG Watch Urbane as an important development in our strategy to deliver high quality wearable devices that are worn and viewed as stylish accessories, not just electronic gadgets.”

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You’ll find this one in stores from September 1, with retail availability seeing this one at JB HiFi, Harvey Norman, and Telstra stores, with a recommended retail price of $449.

An Android handsets is one of the prerequisites to make this work, however, so if you’re using an iPhone or a Windows-based device, you are a out of luck.

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