LG Watch Urbane to Hit Google Store This Month

We don’t know how much it’ll cost, and we don’t know how well it’ll work—but we do know that the LG Watch Urbane, the South Korean electronics giant’s latest Android Wear smartwatch, will be available around the world via the Google Store later this month. Meanwhile, it’ll launch in its native South Korea this week.

A Thursday post on 9to5Google offers up a press release from LG on the device’s impending arrival. It’ll be the first smartwatch to receive Google’s new Android Wear update, which will add in Wi-Fi connectivity, a new app drawer, some gesture controls, and the ability to draw emoji.

It’ll be interesting to see how much LG decides to sell the Urbane for. It’s the third in a growing line of round-display smartwatches, and the second such device from LG itself. Meanwhile, it’s also made of a full metal body, with gold and silver colored chassis. As far as specs, it’s nearly the same as every other Android Wear device to come out so far: it’s got a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 4GB of internal storage, and 512MB of RAM.

The biggest advantage it has over other Android Wear devices is skin deep, in that it looks great. And considering that watches ought to look good as well as perform well, that’s definitely a huge bonus for LG’s latest smartwatch effort.

On the other hand, the G Watch R, LG’s most recent smartwatch, costs $299, making it the most expensive Android Wear device to date. Considering that it’s not functionally different from any of the other Android Wear devices to have hit the market so far, that’s a hefty price. With the Urbane’s more premium construction materials, don’t be surprised to see that price go higher—like closer to $350 or even $400.

The least expensive iteration of the Apple Watch costs $350, so I have a feeling that may be a sort of built-in price ceiling for the Watch Urbane. But until it shows up on the Google Store, we won’t know for sure.

[Source: 9to5Google]