In but days, Android via LG Watch Urbane is officially challenging the just-launched Apple Watch. Today, LG Watch Urbane Android Wear is available nationwide via Google online store invading the US and establishing a marketing beachhead in the process that may soon have Android Wear devices of all sizes and functionality do their fair share of conquest. Aside from the US, LG Watch Urbane is also available concurrently in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, South Korea and Spain.
Surely, this is nothing short of a classic head-to-head clash but how LG Watch Urbane Android Wear may fare in Apple country could give the rest of the vast Android world and its tech-preneurs timely insight for marketing adjustments.
Equipped with Google's big new software update, the LG Watch Urbane is now officially available in the US sold on Google's online store, a development that would pit the product directly with just-launched Apple Watch.
Google has confirmed that orders for the first Android Wear to hit the US will leave the warehouse by May 8th, a Friday, notes The Verge.
For starters, what makes the LG Watch Urbane exquisitely appealing is it does not look like a smart watch.
Unlike the four-cornered Apple Watch, this Android Wear sports a round screen of stainless steel.
You would think this is a luxury watch, true; but you would not conclude it is a smart watch by its appearances.
Of course, immediate comparison with its distant cousin (by virtue of OS) Moto 360 but LG Watch Urbane is the first Android Wear run with Google's big software update.
And the results are nothing short of stunning.
Among Google software's most desirable features are:
- enabling Wi-Fi on other devices;
- gesture-based navigation
- drawable emoji
- low-power mode
Coming a little later than the South Korean launch, the US LG Watch Urbane is smartphone dependent and would require tethering to an Android device all the time.
South Korea's LG Watch Urbane version, however, is LTE-enabled and though it runs on an entirely different software, it does not need an Android device for daily use.
The LG Watch Urbane smartwatch is available initially in the US and in a host of other countries namely: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, South Korea and Spain.
LG Watch Urbane is available with free shipping in the US via Google site but Verizon may also be selling the device as promotional materials have cropped up on the telecom giant's site lately.
America's first Android Wear with a much-revitalized Google software is coming in at $349.99, about the same price as the Apple Watch Sport, reports Tech Radar.
However, in South Korea the more powerful and more independent LG Watch Urbane sells at $608.
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