In 2015 LG announced a follow up to the Watch Urbane, its second circular Android Wear smartwatch after the G Watch R, which has a very big surprise inside — it’s a complete stand-alone smartwatch with a 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE connection, so it has its own phone number, and can make and receive calls. In other words, you can leave your phone at home. However, things didn’t go well for the watch, and it never went on sale at the expected time, leaving us questioning its future.
Updated on 03-24-2016 by Julian Chokkattu: Added in news that you can now pre-order the watch on Verizon.
The Watch Urbane 2nd Edition is back
After being unceremoniously removed from sale right before its launch at the end of last year, the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition is back up for pre-order through AT&T and Verizon. On AT&T, it’s priced at $200 with a two-year contract (and a $45 activation fee), or for $360 without a contract at all. If you decide to pick one up now, then expect delivery soon after March 29 or March 30.
For Verizon, the watch is available for pre-order for $450 with a two-year contract, or you can buy it for $500 off contract.
You can also get the watch for $100 on a two-year agreement if you buy an LG G5 on AT&T Next. Verizon is also knocking off $100 if you buy the watch with an LG G5, or a LG V10 on a two-year contract.
Everything started out well for the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition, but things took a drastic and surprising turn at the end of November last year, when buyers began receiving order cancelation notices. This was followed by a statement from LG, saying the launch had been canceled. According to Android Police, this was due to a “hardware issue which affects the day-to-day functionality of the device.”
What’s changed? LG told Digital Trends, “After thousands of hours of quality assurance testing, the improved LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition has passed with flying colors and is again ready to make a home on the wrist of lucky owners. The highly anticipated LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition — the first Android Wear device with cellular connectivity — will be available starting in the second quarter of 2016 to customers in key markets of North America, Europe, and Asia”
When the launch was held back, LG said a decision would be taken in the future as to whether it would be released at all. It called the problem “complicated,” adding it only releases hardware that meets “very specific quality standards.”
Prior to the cancelation, the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition could be purchased through both AT&T and Verizon, but the latter hasn’t put the watch back up for pre-order yet. Further details on the Watch Urbane’s availability will follow over the coming weeks.
What you need to know about the Watch Urbane 2nd Edition
It’s not the first time we’ve seen an LTE smartwatch from LG. It showed one off at the launch of the Watch Urbane, but at the time it ran a spin-off version of WebOS, and was only announced for sale in South Korea. That’s all changed with the Watch Urbane 2nd Generation, as it uses Android Wear, but with some crucial changes so it can operate as a phone.
LG showed us the phone in operation, and sure enough, it made a call quite happily, proving you really won’t need to carry your smartphone with you at all times. A nano SIM card slots into the device, giving the watch its own telephone number, but apparently LG’s talking to networks to work out a way for both your phone and smartwatch to share the same number, which would make life much easier.
The screen is another of LG’s excellent circular, 1.38-inch P-OLED displays, this time with a very impressive 480 × 480 pixel resolution, which is higher than any other Android smartwatch available. Interestingly, there’s a layer of Gorilla Glass 3 over the top. The Snapdragon 400 processor is inside, just like the Watch Urbane, with 768MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage space. A higher capacity 570mAh battery, with a hexagonal design engineered specifically for round smartwatches, provides the energy and should return a day and a half of use.
LG has sealed the 44.5mm stainless steel body sufficiently to give it an IP67 water resistance rating, and it comes in an attractive brushed metal style, with a choice of silicone bands in black, white, light blue, or brown colors. The body has a heart rate sensor on the underneath, and inside is an accelerometer, compass, barometer, and gyroscope. There are three buttons on the side, one of which provides a shortcut to LG Health, and a new personal workout plan with your own coach.
The Watch Urbane 2nd Edition was going to be the first to run the latest version of Android Wear with cellular network connectivity.
Previous updates:
Updated on 03-22-2016 by Andy Boxall: Added in a statement from LG on the return of the Watch Urbane 2nd Edition
Updated on 03-21-2016 by Andy Boxall: Added in news the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition is back up for pre-order through AT&T
Updated on 11-20-2015 by Andy Boxall: Added in news the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition has been delayed, and potentially canceled entirely
Updated on 11-16-2015 by Andy Boxall: Added in Verizon and AT&T order details for the Watch Urbane 2nd Edition
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