LG, on Tuesday announced the launch of its much awaited smartwatch, the LG Watch Urbane in India for Rs. 30,000. LG Watch Urbane is the first new smartwatch powered by the latest version of Android Wear which works seamlessly with smartphones running Android 4.3 and above.
 
The LG Watch Urbane was globally unveiled at the MWC 2015 and there it received numerous awards and accolades from consumers, media and industry thought leaders for its modern true watch-like design, full-circle Plastic OLED (P-OLED) display and overall usefulness. Its dimensions are smaller overall and thinner, without reducing the size of the display or the battery capacity.
 
“With LG Watch Urbane, LG once again brought an amalgamation of a beautiful design and high end technology for its consumers. It’s best termed as a ‘Genuine Smartpiece’. It carries the latest android OS and includes features that are available for the very first time on any Android wear device. LG has been consistently launching smartwatches and this demonstrates our commitment towards wearable devices in India,” said Amit Gujral, Marketing Head, LG Mobiles India.
 
Responding to consumers’ desire for style as well as function, the LG Watch Urbane has a full metal body with a stitched genuine leather strap. The stainless steel body is available in two colors, luxurious polished rose gold and silver, accentuated further with a narrow bezel that gives the device the sleek lines of a classic timepiece. Unlike many other competing smartwatches, the band can be exchanged with any replacement 22mm leather, silicone or metal strap for the ultimate in convenience and personalization.
 
Some of the features available for the first time on any Android Wear device include Wi-Fi connectivity, always-on apps to keep the display from going dark when running, navigating and an improved UX that makes launching favorite apps and getting in touch with friends easier than ever before with everything now front-and-center.
 
The latest OS allows users to send emoticons by drawing them directly on the LG Watch Urbane. Draw a smiley face, a clock showing a certain time or any other pictures and Android Wear will match your drawing to the closest Unicode emoticon for sending to another Android Wear watch, smartphone, or computer. Other improvements include the ability to change the font size and see notifications even when looking at another function on the display, such as directions. What’s more, the screen on the LG Watch Ur-bane can now be set to lock automatically when it is removed from the wrist.
 
Included in LG Watch Urbane are two new and useful features not available on other Android Wear devices: LG Call and LG Pulse. LG Call allows the wearer to access re-cent calls and the favorite contacts list on the connected smartphone to dial out directly from the watch. When connected to a Bluetooth headset, there is no need to remove the phone from one’s pocket to place a call. And LG Pulse takes health monitoring to a whole new level by measuring the wearer’s heart rate every second during exercise with no maximum time limit. At the end of the activity, LG Pulse will report the average heart rate over the entire duration of the activity and display a heart rate graph on LG Health (coming soon).