LG Watch Urbane LTE first look

LG has announced two new wearables here at MWC 2015, and they’re some of the most premium-looking smartwatches we’ve ever seen. The first of which is the Android Wear-powered LG Watch Urbane. We went hands-on with the watch a few days ago, and you can check out our first impressions here. The second new wearable from the company is the Watch Urbane LTE, a standalone smartwatch running the LG Wearable Platform OS (based on webOS). We’re taking a look at this LTE-enabled watch today, so let’s dive right in. Here is our hands-on and first impressions of the LG Watch Urbane LTE!

The first thing you’ll notice about the Urbane LTE is the bulkier build to make way for the extra equipment needed for the LTE model. Furthermore, the proprietary band houses all of the antennas in the watch, which will allow you to connect to Wifi, Bluetooth and LTE networks. This also means the band isn’t removable. The overall chassis is similar to the Watch Urbane with its aluminum housing, though the LTE model is, as mentioned, quite a bit bigger. This watch features three buttons on the side which allow you to access your home screen, settings menu and more. While the chassis of the watch is classy and sleek, the band is very similar to what we’d usually see on a sportswatch. This will allow you to exercise with the wearable without worrying about getting a nice leather watch strap dirty. Additionally, the watch has a heart rate monitor, which is always nice to see on a fitness-oriented wearable.

As far as software is concerned, the Watch Urbane LTE is running the “LG Wearable Platform” OS, which is based on webOS. While it’s not actually running webOS as we once knew it, this is basically the same software we’ve seen running on LG’s smart TVs only with modifications for wearables. The interface takes on a circular design, offering up a carousel view of apps to scroll through. With this being an LTE-enhanced model, you can take calls and respond to text messages directly from the watch. You’ll need to respond to messages using an on-screen keyboard, which surprisingly wasn’t too difficult to use.

Due to the LTE functionality of the device, the battery has been upped to 700mAh. We obviously couldn’t test the battery in length with our brief hands-on time, though it will be interesting to see how the battery holds up in our full review.

Gallery

Specs

• 1.3-inch POLED display with resolution of 320×320
• 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 4GB of internal storage
• 700mAh battery
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Sensors: 9-axis, PPG, barometer, A-GPS/GNSS
• IP67 certification for dust and water resistance

What do you think of the Watch Urbane LTE? Do you think you’ll pick one up?