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LG's 'luxury' Watch Urbane LTE doesn't use Android Wear

LG's 'luxury' Watch Urbane LTE doesn't use Android Wear

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Company says it isn't webOS, either

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LG has already pre-announced the Watch Urbane, its "luxury" smartwatch that it's showing off in Barcelona next week, and now even more details have been revealed ahead of Mobile World Congress. It turns out the Watch Urbane has a second, LTE-powered variant that isn't an Android Wear device at all — it runs on a new proprietary wearable platform from LG.

Since the newer model bears considerable similarity to the unnamed webOS smartwatch that Audi brought to CES, we wondered whether this could be the first time we see LG extend webOS beyond TVs in a retail device. LG tells The Verge, however, that the Watch Urbane LTE is not a webOS device and has no relation to the Audi prototype. It seems odd that the company would develop a completely new smartwatch OS alongside its Android Wear and webOS projects, but there we have it.

The world's first LTE smartwatch

The stainless steel Watch Urbane will, of course, work with Android phones, but the LTE variant has cellular connectivity of its own; LG says it's the first LTE smartwatch in the world. You can talk over VoLTE without the need for a phone, and there's a "walkie-talkie" feature to let multiple people speak at once. An emergency speed-dial feature lets you make calls with just one button.

The Watch Urbane LTE's battery is 700mAh, which is 1.7 times bigger than the G Watch R. The watch also features NFC and smart wallet functionality, and has a bevy of sensors including a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, atmospheric pressure, heartbeat, and GPS. One feature will use these sensors to analyze your golf swing.

lg watch urbane

The Watch Urbane LTE has sprouted two buttons next to the "crown," making for the same lineup of three physical keys as seen on the CES webOS watch. The top key can be used to quickly access various settings, the bottom works as a back button, and the middle is used to switch between watch modes.

So if this isn't a webOS watch, what's it like to actually use? All should be revealed at Mobile World Congress in just a few days.

Additional reporting by Sojung Lim.