As promised, LG has now made its new LG Watch Urbane available on the Google Store. Customers who want to pick up the posh Android Wear smartwatch can do so for $350.
However, Google says it will not ship orders until May 8 likely due to supply issues, so buyers shouldn't expect their new gadgets to arrive this weekend or sooner. Still, it's worth crossing fingers and toes, since Google has been known to send out some orders earlier than expected in the past.
If you've been waiting for a smartwatch that looks just as good as it works, the LG Watch Urbane could finally be the device to get for yourself.
The South Korean electronics maker's Watch Urbane turned several heads when it was unveiled at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Unlike other smartwatches, which essentially look like miniature square computers that can be strapped to the wrist, the Watch Urbane takes after the Moto 360 with its classic, circular design, a stainless steel body in silver or gold, and a genuine leather strap.
So far, this smartwatch is widely considered the best-looking Android Wear smartwatch available, and looks more like the ritzy, luxury watches made by the Swiss than any other smartwatch out there, including the Apple Watch.
Like its predecessor, the G Watch R, the Watch Urbane features the same 1.3-inch P-OLED display that makes the screen easier to look at under bright sunlight, although the Watch Urbane has a more low-profile bezel.
Inside, the watch is powered by a Snapdragon 400 processor from Qualcomm, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, and 4GB of built-in storage. It features an always-on mode, for people who want to look at their watches without having to turn anything on, and a heart rate sensor for health and fitness purposes.
As the first smartwatch to run on the latest version of Android Wear, the Watch Urbane will also have some of the interesting new features that other manufacturers have yet to incorporate into their own devices. These include full support for Wi-Fi to allow the smartwatch to be usable most of the time even when it's not tethered to an Android phone. It also allows users to use gestures to navigate through the smartwatch, such as flipping the wrist up to scroll up and flipping it down to go down. Also, Android Wear now allows users to draw emojis and translate the drawing to the nearest emoji that can be sent as a message to other users.
The LG Watch Urbane is currently available only in the U.S., UK, South Korea, Hong Kong, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. LG also has a Watch Urbane LTE version that can function independently of an Android phone. The $608 device, which is equipped with NFC and a 700 mAh battery, is available only in LG's home country right now.
