The LG Watch Urbane LTE doesn't run Android Wear, but it can make calls (Update: Hands-on photos!)
LG says its Watch Urbane LTE packs all the communication capabilities of a smartphone in a polished, metal wristwatch. That's not a hyperbole; as the smartwatch supports LTE, it can make and answer calls as well as send and receive text messages.
The LG Watch Urbane LTE.
Updated on March 2, 2015 with hands-on pictures.
February 26:
We already knew about the all-metal, Android Wear-based LG Watch Urbane, which will be shown off at MWC 2015 in Barcelona next week. But what we just found out is that it has a non-Android Wear sibling called the Watch Urbane LTE.
According the LG, the Watch Urbane LTE is its “most ambitious” smartwatch to date. Like the pre-announced Watch Urbane, it has a 1.3-inch Plastic-OLED display, runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz processor, has 4GB of internal storage, and is IP67-rated. But the Watch Urbane LTE has faster and more RAM (1GB LPDDR3 vs. 512MB LPDDR2), packs a bigger battery (700mAh vs. 410mAh), and is running on the “LG Wearable Platform” (which is based on WebOS) instead of Android Wear. The specs also list a slew of sensors, like gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, barometer, PPG-based heart-rate monitor, and GPS.
Looking at the press photos, the Watch Urbane LTE looks very much like the Watch Urbane, with the exception of two additional buttons above and below the “crown” button on the right. The top button provides access to a Quick Setting menu, and the center button switches between the watchface and installed apps. During a quick press, the bottom button serves as the “Back” button; but when it detects a long press, it activates a “safety beacon” feature whereby it will automatically dial a preset number and send out the wearer’s location.
Of course, at its name suggests, the headline feature of the Watch Urbane LTE is its support for LTE cellular connectivity. It can make and answer calls as well as send and receive text messages. If your carrier supports it, it can even do push-to-talk with other devices on the same network (just like a walkie-talkie but with unlimited range). There’s also built-in NFC and support for virtual wallet functionality.
Source: LG.
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