LG has officially announced the LG G Watch R, a stunning looking round-faced smartwatch toting Android Wear.
The announcement comes just hours after the unveiling of the Samsung Gear S, but LG has really impressed in the design department.
Essential reading: The definitive Moto 360 review
From a glance of the photography, you'd be forgiven for assuming that the LG G Watch R was the latest piece from Omega or Tag. That’s thanks to the P-OLED (that’s plastic OLED to you) display, which boasts an impressive resolution of 320 x 320, all packed into just 1.3-inches.
The LG G Watch R was teased earlier in the week, but it seems that manufacturers can’t wait for IFA 2014 next week to one-up each other, and LG has really stolen the show from Samsung with this launch.
However, the biggest loser seems to be Motorola; until now its Moto 360 has been the most anticipated round-faced smartwatch to run Android Wear, but now LG has set the bar for design standards and it’s going to take some beating.
Before you worry this is another LG plastic toy watch in disguise, the display is where the polymers end. The G Watch R is encased in stainless steel, and the strap is made of leather – and naturally uses the industry standard 22mm size, so you can personalise it.
Tech fans will be pleased with the 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, which tears strips off Samsung’s latest effort. Of course, it will run all the latest Android Wear apps as well.
Aside from the processor, the LG G Watch R offers 4GB of storage, 512MB of RAM and a 410mAh battery. It will also work for up to 30 minutes in 1m of water.
The LG G Watch R is getting its official unveiling next week at IFA, and will be released in Q4 2014. Stay tuned to Wareable for a full review as soon as we manage to get our hands on it.
Wareable will be reporting live from the Messe Berlin trade show floor all week – check out our dedicated IFA 2014 hub for all the latest news and analysis from the big tech expo.
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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.