LG Electronics unveils its new smartwatch `Watch Urbane`

LG Electronics will show off its new smartwatch “LG Watch Urbane” at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on March 2. With Apple planning to debut its own smartwatch in April, Samsung Electronics is also known to be developing a smartwatch with a circular display. Design war over smartphones has started in full.

The photo of LG Watch Urbane released on Monday shows a more luxurious design than LG’s previous smartwatches, as reflected in the firm’s selection of the word “urbane,” meaning “suave” and “refined.” LG Electronics has continued to keep it a dogma that a smartwatch should look like an actual watch since it was developing its first smartwatch G Watch R that was released last year.

The new smartwatch keeps the 1.3-inch, circular plastic OLED face of the G Watch R, but size, thickness and width were all reduced. As the bezel width was reduced, the size was cut to 45.5×52.2×10.9 mm (width×length×height) from 46.4×54.6×11.1 mm.

LG Watch Urbane has scratch-free surface and corrosion-resistant metal body with stainless steel post-treatment. The device has a standard 22 mm wide strap made of genuine leather with stitch detailing.

The device runs Android Wear and is compatible with smartphones running Android 4.3 and over. LG Electronics built its own “pulse counter” feature to measure the heart rate real time.

“More than two-thirds of all wristwatches worldwide have circular display. We believe that comfortable design is essential for smartwatches to become popularized," said an LG Electronics source.

Samsung Electronics, which has adhered to a square shape saying smartwatches are a device and not a watch, is highly likely to adopt a round display for its future smartwatch. Samsung is pushing through a project called “Orbis,” a Latin word meaning circle, according to industry sources. The new potential product will be manipulated by turning the round display bezel left or right. By turning the bezel one can select functions like receiving and refusing a call, playing music and checking messages.

“With Apple Watch known to have adopted an intuitive usage method of turning the stem of the watch, competition is heating up for a more sleek design and simple manipulation,” said an electronics industry source.