Great features, performance and battery life – the LG Watch Urbane is the best Android smartwatch
Round faces are all the rage among Android Wear manufacturers, and with the Watch Urbane it’s easy to see why. It might be a little thicker and heavier than your average mid-range timepiece, but it looks like the kind of watch that people – albeit mostly men – actually buy. Not all of us like the styling or admire the finishing, but with its leather strap and the right watch face, the Watch Urbane looks sophisticated. There’s no danger of forgetting that it’s there, though, at 67g.
The 1.3in P-OLED screen has a 320 x 320 resolution, and it’s bitingly sharp. Blacks look black, colours look rich and punchy. Reading notifications, swiping through Google Now cards and navigating maps is a pleasure. Our only serious grumble is that it’s hard to see when you’re out in the sun.
There are even more goodies when you turn the smartwatch over. As well as the contacts for the bundled clamp-on charging cradle, the Watch Urbane has a proper photoplethysmographic (PPG) heart-rate monitor. Use Android Wear’s own heart-rate-monitoring functions and the results are all over the shop, but use the LG Pulse app and it’s a different story, matching the Fitbit Surge and Apple Watch for credible results.
The Watch Urbane doesn’t nod off when it’s counting steps, either, although the leather strap and design don’t make for the most practical fitness watch. It might be IP67-rated, but that means it’s ready for a quick dip in the washing-up bowl, not a few laps of the local pool. Like the Apple Watch, the Watch Urbane is better suited to nudging your average, moderately active person along the right path than for any serious training.
Beyond LG Pulse, a rather pointless touchbased phone dialler and some specially designed watch faces, the Urbane is a fairly straightforward Android Wear watch. Even so, it’s still the best. The wearable OS is maturing nicely, and LG’s hardware does a great job of showcasing it. After a day or so of use, the flicks and taps to view and dismiss notifications, launch apps and flick through Google Now cards become second nature.
Top up the built-in app selection with your favourite fitness apps or must-haves such as Wunderlist and ViewRanger, and the Watch Urbane becomes a great smartphone companion. You can respond to texts and emails using voice, ready-made replies or hand-drawn emoji, and LG’s microphone doesn’t have any problems with voice recognition. New actions enable you to scroll through notifications with a flick of your wrist, and these work reliably when you haven’t got a free hand.
It’s also likely to last. With a Snapdragon 400 processor and 512MB of RAM, performance is impeccable, and the Watch Urbane should be equipped to cope with future Android Wear updates. Even battery life is excellent: we wouldn’t quibble with the predicted battery life of more than 60 hours, which is about as good as it gets with an Android Wear device.
This isn’t the ultimate smartwatch, and Apple’s design nous and attention to detail is leagues ahead of LG’s. Those who don’t like the styling might prefer the Watch Urbane’s stablemate, the cheaper G Watch R. If you like its looks, though, don’t hesitate. The Watch Urbane is one storming smartwatch.