First Impressions: LG Watch Urbane

The marriage between technology and fashion has long been important, but never more so than in smartwatches. Motorola made the first effort, with the Moto 360 and while it was a good looking device, it had its flaws. The Apple Watch may have made big news, but let’s face it, it doesn’t really get the fashion aspect right does it? So, when I first saw press images of the LG Watch Urbane, I was excited, yet skeptical. Images always make devices look better than they actually are, which is why I had some questions about the Watch Urbane. Well, they’ve been answered now.

LG announced the wearable in India at its Tech Show in Delhi yesterday. The Watch Urbane will start selling from sometime next month and the pricing is yet to be announced. But, I got to spend some time with the device, enough to present my first impressions of it. Read on.

Yes, the Watch Urbane is as beautiful as the pictures promise, but like some of the other smartwatches, I don’t like it with the leather strap. It’s not like it looks bad, just that the device becomes too light for my liking. With the leather strap on, the Watch Urbane felt more like a toy, those Mickey Mouse watches we used to wear as kids. The metal band paints an entirely different picture though. If I ever get the Watch Urbane, I’ll get it only with the metal band. Not only does it look like a real watch, it is just the weight I like. Some may find it a little heavy, but honestly, it’s what many good watches weigh.

Also, the metal band hides the width of the dial very easily, giving the whole device a seamless feel. What I’m basically trying to say is that the metal band would be a must here.

Android Wear remains the OS on the Watch Urbane, but I daresay that in the 20-30 minutes that I spent with it, I thought it was faster. The OS seemed much more intuitive and responsive on the Watch Urbane, than it did on the Moto 360. What was a little disappointing though was the response to voice commands. The Moto 360 is very good at responding to voice commands. Yes, it is a little slow, but when I used that Watch a few months ago, it almost never missed a command, even when I was out on the street. (Most of the time, my command was to simply Play Music)

The sensors in the Watch Urbane though seemed to fail in this. I tried multiple times and the response to voice commands was rather poor. It could be because of all the noise in the demo zone of course, so I’ll hold my judgements till I actually get my review unit.

All in all though, the LG Watch Urbane gets the looks part right and is something that a fashion conscious buyer won’t mind springing for. The dial may be a little big, but it’s meant to be that way. Also, the size and shape of the dial provides some protection to the display as well. I can honestly say I love the design, albeit with a metal band on it. If I found smartwatches to be of any use to me, then I'd buy this.

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Prasid Banerjee

Trying to explain technology to my parents. Failing miserably. View Full Profile