The smart watch trend has officially taken off, with companies announcing new device after new device.
The most stylish smart watches, however, have rather consistently been the round ones that are able to portray a "classic" watch feeling. These include the Motorola Moto 360, the LG G Watch R, and the new LG Watch Urbane.
Design
Design is arguably the most important aspect when comparing smart watches because of the heavy emphasis on fashion when it comes to wearable devices. Even more than smartphones, wearable devices say something about who is wearing them.
The design of the Moto 360 is simple yet classy. The brushed metal and band options give it a very minimalist look, which is what may want. However, the device is a little bulky, and hence comes off as a little more than some would want. As the first round smart watch on the market, it was the best looking of its time. That, however, was almost a year ago and Motorola will likely announce a follow up to the Moto 360 in the near future.
LG takes things a step further by intentionally making the G Watch R look like a sports watch. Many appreciate this effort to imitate watches of the past, with the modern yet classic design a great for the fitness-minded among us. While water-resistant, however, the device is not waterproof, so this is not a watch you would want to take swimming.
The Watch Urbane could be considered the luxury watch version of the G Watch R. Less about sports and more about class, the Watch Urbane is the best looking smart watch on the market. With its stainless steel, brushed metal body available in both silver and gold colors, the Watch Urbane paves the way for fashionable smart watches in the future.
Display
While fashion is an important part of smart watches, it's not the only factor in deciding which smart watch is right for you.
The Moto 360, the oldest smartwatch we're comparing, has the worst screen of the pack. It's by no means a bad-looking display, but at 205 pixels per inch and a screen size of 1.56-inches, it is largely expected that the Moto 360 2 will have a much improved display.
By comparison, both the G Watch R and the Watch Urbane have a 1.3-inch screen with a resolution of 246 pixels per inch.
Internal Specs
As far as internals go, the Moto 360 sports a Texas Instruments OMAP3630, which is a little on the old side. In fact it powered the Motorola Droid 2 way back in 2010.
The LG watches both offer a more modern and powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core, 1.2 GHz processor.
All three devices include 4GB of on-board storage and 512MB of RAM.
Conclusions
As smart watches get more and more advanced, we can expect better designs and improved specs. For now, LG seems to be leading the pack on terms of the "best" Android Wear device, however that could change quickly, given the fact that Mobile World Congress is right around the corner.
