In Depth: LG Watch Urbane vs Apple Watch

Display, design and specs

2015 is set to be a big year for smartwatches and that's thanks mainly to the Apple Watch, a device which could finally make wearables mainstream.

But while the Apple Watch will almost certainly be a success it's not the only smartwatch launching this year and LG has already positioned a tempting competitor in the form of the Watch Urbane, a stylish offering with premium appeal.

With both devices launching imminently you might be wondering how these two high-end watches compare, in which case wonder no more, because we have the answers.

Display

The LG Watch Urbane has a 1.3-inch circular face, with a fairly sharp 320 x 320 resolution, giving it a pixel density of 245 pixels per inch. While we haven't gone hands on with it yet it should be the same as the LG G Watch R's screen, which is bright and generally impressive.

The Apple Watch has a square face, which from an aesthetic perspective immediately puts it at a disadvantage. We know that it comes in a choice of 38mm (1.5 inches) or 42mm (1.65 inches), so it's bigger than the LG Watch Urbane's screen.

We also know that it's a sapphire crystal Retina display, though exactly what resolution it is and how high quality it is remains to be seen.

Design

The LG Watch Urbane is all about style, that's seemingly its entire purpose since it's basically a G Watch R in a more stylish body.

At just 45.5 x 52.2 x 10.9mm it has a thinner profile than the G Watch R so it shouldn't look out of place on either a man's or a woman's wrist. Its full metal body in a gold or silver finish leaves it looking a lot like a high-end wristwatch, especially when combined with a leather strap.

The Apple Watch is clad in metal too and it's available in two different sizes - 38mm and 42mm, so whether you've got big or small wrists there should be a model to suit.

In fact it's all about customisation, as it also comes in a selection of different colours and materials, with a choice of a stainless steel, silver aluminium, 18-carat yellow gold, 18-carat rose gold, space grey aluminium or space black stainless steel body and a sport band, link bracelet, leather loop, classic buckle, modern buckle and Milanese loop strap.

You get no such choices with the LG Watch Urbane, though as it uses a 22mm strap you can at least change it for any standard strap.

Depending on your choices with the Apple Watch it can either look far cheaper than the Watch Urbane or far more expensive. Whether it looks better or worse is somewhat debatable, especially with its square face working against it, but at least you can make it yours.

Specs

With a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor and 512MB of RAM the LG Watch Urbane is a fairly powerful little device and if the equally-specced G Watch R is anything to go by it should offer good, albeit not exceptional performance.

We don't yet know how well the Apple Watch will perform but we'd be surprised if it wasn't quite slick, given that performance is one thing Apple has rarely struggled with. It's got a custom-made S1 processor at its heart. It's an entire computer system on a single chip, which certainly sounds impressive, but it remains to be seen how that will affect performance.

Interface, apps, battery and price

Interface

The LG Watch Urbane runs Android Wear, like most smartwatches. It's an OS which needs some work, but is off to a strong start, with great Google Now integration bolstered by accurate voice searches.

It also delivers glanceable notifications, but the Apple Watch will do that too and where Android Wear has Google Now the Apple Watch has Siri.

The two can go blow for blow on paper with, if anything, the Apple Watch coming out on top thanks to extra features like its digital crown which lets you zoom in and out and the ability to draw pictures and send them to friends.

When it comes to the look of the interface both watches should offer a lot of options, with numerous custom Android Wear faces now available and the Apple Watch likely to have at least 11 different customisable faces available from day one.

Of course perhaps the biggest thing differentiating them is that the Apple Watch is only compatible with Apple devices and for now Android Wear is only compatible with Android devices, though Google would like to add iOS compatibility.

Apps

Although the LG Watch Urbane isn't out yet it's got a head start in terms of apps as Android Wear has been around for a while and even more apps are being made compatible with it, though the number of fully supported Android Wear apps still isn't as high as we'd like.

The Apple Watch is likely to have fewer apps available initially as it's running a new OS, but Apple will be including the basics like a calendar, Maps and a music remote and third party developers are already busy working on apps for it, so expect the number available to quickly explode.

Fitness

You'll be able to track your steps with the LG Watch Urbane and thanks to its heart rate monitor you'll also be able to get a reading on that, but there's little else here for fitness fans and with its upscale design it doesn't really feel like something you'd wear in the gym anyway.

The Apple Watch is as up or down scale as you want to make it with its customisation options and the sports band option shows that Apple sees it as a potential fitness accessory. That's justified too, as its Activity app keeps track of how much you move during the day as well as logging how many calories you've burnt.

It also has a dedicated Workout app, which lets you track pace, speed and more. It lets you set targets, alerts you when you've reached milestones and hands out badges for achievements. Plus like the Watch Urbane it has a heart rate monitor, so if you want to get fit it's by far the better option of the two.

Battery

The LG Watch Urbane has a 410 mAh battery, which judging by the G Watch R should translate to around two days of battery life. That's not great for a watch but for a smartwatch it's not bad and if anything is likely to top the Apple Watch, which is rumoured to have around a day of life.

Price

With a rumoured price of £299.99 (around $460, AU$590) the LG Watch Urbane isn't cheap, but the Apple Watch is likely to be at least as expensive, starting at $349 in the US, which is likely to translate to around £300 once you add VAT and the like. Plus that's just a starting price, for the gold Watch Edition you could be looking at thousands of pounds/dollars.

• The Moto 360 is pretty stylish too.

from TechRadar: All latest feeds http://ift.tt/1AqH1gl

via IFTTT