What looks like a sports watch, makes its own phone calls over LTE, makes mobile payments over NFC and runs its own new operating system? The LG Watch Urbane LTE. Yes, LG has another new smartwatch on the way, and this one's not Android Wear: it's a whole new beast.
The LG Watch Urbane LTE looks and sounds like the just recently-announced LG Watch Urbane, a fancy-looking Android Wear-powered smartwatch, with an LTE slapped on the end. But this has a whole slew of new features that Android Wear isn't capable of yet: stand-alone phone calls and messaging without a smartphone, much like the Samsung Gear S, plus mobile payment technology via NFC, like the Apple Watch.
To accomplish this, LG's newest watch runs a new software under the hood powered by WebOS called the "LG Wearable Platform Operating System," which LG claims will be used to power all of LG's future "proprietary wearable products." LG claims the Watch Urbane LTE will run some similar core functions as the Android Wear-based LG Watch Urbane. Much like Samsung with Tizen, LG is branching off beyond Android Wear.
The LG Watch Urbane sounds power-packed on paper: it can make and answer calls, send and receive text messages, make push-to-talk calls like a walkie-talkie with other phones over the same network, and even act as a safety beacon: one of three buttons on the side activates an emergency call number you can pre-set when pressed down, while sending your location to the person you're calling. It's also the first smartwatch to support LTE instead of 3G, according to LG.
And then there are the mobile payments promises: LG says its tech can be used to create a wrist-wallet that will pay for everything from movie tickets to public transport. Fitness features have also been expanded: the onboard heart-rate sensor, accelerometer and barometer will work with new cycling, hiking and golfing modes. It's also shower-friendly, according to LG (IP67 dust and water resistant). And, as hinted at CES, it will work with at least some cars.
"The LG Watch Urbane LTE is an example of the kind of innovation that's possible when you're the industry leader in LTE technology," LG's President and CEO Juno Cho said in a press release. That type of statement suggests that the Watch Urbane is full of features aiming at breaking away from the smartwatch pack...and Android Wear, too. You could even see this as an indication that major smartwatch players-to-be might be getting frustrated with the limitations of Android Wear's current platform...or, its level playing-field sameness from watch to watch.
The LG Watch Urbane LTE has the same 1.3-inch round 320x320 P-OLED display, 4GB of onboard storage and 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 400 processor as the Android Wear-based LG Watch Urbane, but adds lots of other features: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, an LTE antenna, NFC, and a much larger 700 mAh battery that's bound to impact the design a bit.
Much like the do-it-all-ambitious Samsung Gear S, the LG Watch Urbane LTE is trying to be a customized super-watch. While it's got enough tech specs to challenge Apple Watch, as always it'll be the app support and software functions that determine how this will actually work. And we don't know if this watch will be limited to LG phone compatibility like Samsung's Gears, or work across Android devices. Also, why does this watch have nearly the same name as the other Urbane while seemingly being a very different product?
We'll know more soon. Right now, all we have is info and a picture. But it's safe to say LG's fighting the smartwatch battle with both gloves off.
Stay tuned for more at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
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