LG reveals the new Watch Urbane, the first Android Wear smartwatch to go tether-free

LG’s full of surprises tonight, announcing the V10 ahead of the company’s New York event tomorrow and now a refresh of the Watch Urbane. The device sports a bigger screen, smaller form factor, and is the first Android Wear smartwatch to sport a cellular radio, making it tether-free.

Normally you’d need to tether your smartwatch to your Android device by way of the Android Wear application, but it seems that the new Watch Urbane can work as a standalone device, thanks to the newly added cellular radio. Interestingly, it has LTE capabilities as well.

It can also take calls, which is an intriguing feature to add. Either way, receiving calls is there for those who’ll use it. There’s also now two new buttons above and below the main button the Watch Urbane. These new buttons will help users get quick access to things like contacts, LG Health, the apps list, and so on.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It also has the aforementioned bigger display, toting a 1.38-inch 480 x 480 circular P-OLED panel with 348ppi along with the standard built-in GPS. Included is a 570mAh battery and a new Power Saving Mode to get you through the day and beyond.

As with the LG V10, the company hasn’t provided any pricing details. They haven’t offered any information on availability either, indicating that we won’t see it at least for a couple months, as was similar to Samsung’s Gear S2.

Probably the most disappointing thing about the new LG Watch Urbane so far is that the bands can no longer be swapped, which is largely due to building some of the hardware into the bands in order to get the smaller form factor.

Android and iPhone owners alike will be able to enjoy this new smartwatch when it arrives. We’ll for certain hear more details on it tomorrow.

source: LG

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