LG G Watch R looks great but may not be your perfect smart-watch fit
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A few months after launching its first smart watch, the LG G Watch, the company released its second entry into this category: the LG G Watch R. The R, we can assume, stands for “round” (if it doesn't, it should!) and that’s the most obvious difference between this LG watch and the first: The watch face is circular instead of rectangular.
And that’s important. Design is a big deal with smart watches. Most people don’t want to wear ugly devices on their wrists, and the G Watch R is a truly good-looking watch, with a black-steel bezel and leather band. Also, at least for this reviewer, round watches are more comfortable and feel more natural to wear than square or rectangular ones.
But if you want a lighter, less bulky smart watch, this isn’t it. The leather band is a bit stiff, too, and I couldn’t get it to fit comfortably on my wrist; it was either too tight or too loose (fortunately, you can swap out the watchband). Of course, this is an issue of personal taste (and wrist circumfrence): If you like to wear big watches, the size and heft of the G Watch R won’t be a stopper. One thing that may be, though, is the cost: At $300, the G Watch R is on the expensive end of the smart-watch price spectrum.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}We’ll test the LG G Watch R in our lab along with other new smart watches, so look for those results soon. Meanwhile, here are our first impressions.
Using the LG G Watch R
Like the G Watch, the G Watch R runs on Android Wear, Google’s operating system for wearable-tech devices. Android Wear adds a good deal of function and usability to smart watches, including Google Now. Just tell the watch, "OK Google," as you do with Android smart phones, and you can navigate the watch, do Web searches, initiate phone calls, compose texts, and more.
Google Now also pushes relevant notifications to your watch: In addition to alerts for incoming calls, e-mails, texts, and so on, you get the Google Now information cards that tell you things like how many minutes it would take you to get home from your current location, for example; you can then click on the card and get specific traffic and navigation information.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As with other Android Wear watches, you need to use the G Watch R with a smart phone running Android 4.3 or later. We paired the watch to a Samsung Note 3 phone with ease; just download the Android Wear app to your phone, turn on Bluetooth, and have it find the watch.
The G Watch R has a power button on the right; you charge the watch and turn it on, and it gives you an easy-to-follow tutorial on how to use it.
For more, visit our reviews of smart watches.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As on other Android Wear watches, navigation is via voice commands and swipes on the watch’s touchscreen. The voice recognition worked well for us overall. To get back to the main screen quickly, you briefly press your palm on the watch's face.
By the way, one difference between this watch and the Moto 360, the first round smart watch we saw, is that there’s no small black bar at the bottom of the display, as there is on the 360's display (on which it serves as an ambient light sensor).
Features
Built into the G Watch R are a 1.2-GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of memory, which is useful to store some songs if you’re using it as a music player. As for sensors (primarily used for various kinds of fitness tracking), there’s a barometer, heart rate monitor, gyro, accelerometer, and compass.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The P-OLED screen, crisp and vivid, has a resolution of 320-by-320—and the screen is always on, so you don’t have to raise your arm or tap the face to see the time, as you do with some other smart watches. (In fact, if you choose a traditional-looking watch face, people might mistake this for a non-smart watch.) To activate the watch for voice commands, just flick your wrist or tap the face.
Like its older sibling, the G Watch R comes with a wireless charging dock: Place your watch on it, matching up the connectors, and it charges pretty rapidly.
You can get to available apps for this smart watch via your phone’s Android Wear app. As this relatively new OS evolves, more and more apps are showing up, for health and fitness, social media, travel, shopping, productivity, and more. (You’ll even find games, though playing them on a small round screen wasn’t too compelling for us.)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bottom line
The LG G Watch R is a big step forward from LG’s first smart watch. The evolving Android Wear OS is a great fit for smart watches, too. And unlike most of Samsung’s Gear line of smart watches, LG lets its watches work with Android phones of any brand (as long as they are running version 4.3 or later). And the round face is a design plus. But we found the G Watch R to be bulky and a bit uncomfortable.
Check back for our lab-test results on this watch and others soon.
—Carol Mangis
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