LG Watch Style preview: The crown princess of Android Wear 2.0

LG announced two new smartwatches at the beginning of February in the form of the Watch Sport and Watch Style, both of which serve as poster boys for Android Wear 2.0.

We’ve previewed the Watch Sport previously, which you can read about in our separate feature, but here we are looking at the more fashion-friendly Watch Style.

• LG Watch Sport preview: The prince of Android Wear 2.0

LG Watch Style preview: Design

• IP68 rated, interchangeable straps
• Slim and sleek
• 42.3 x 45.7 x 10.79mm

The LG Watch Style is the slimmer and sleeker of the two Android Wear 2.0 watches. The Watch Sport is chunky and rugged, while the Watch Style is stylish and sophisticated. It is comfortable to wear and it looks lovely on the smaller wrist.

The watch body is stainless steel, while the back is plastic, though it doesn’t feel cheap like the LG Watch Urbane. It is light, perhaps a little too light, but the Watch Style still feels like a solid device.

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There is just one central rotatable crown on the right of the watch face, rather than the three on the Watch Sport and the bezel surrounding the display is narrower too, as well as shiny for a smarter finish. The crown is very responsive and easy to use, sliding through the menu options quickly and easily with no lag.

The Watch Style measures 42.3 x 45.7 x 10.79mm and it comes in rose gold, titanium and silver colourways, each of which has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating. The rose gold is our favourite, though we suspect the cream leather strap it comes with would need to occasionally be swapped for darker colour to stop it getting too grubby.

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The strap is easily changed however, requiring a simple pull back of the pins positioned on the underside of the device and unhooking the strap. Overall, the Watch Style’s design is lovely, simple and subtle, the latter of which isn’t always the case with smartwatches so always a bonus.

• LG Watch Sport vs LG Watch Style: What’s the difference?

LG Watch Style preview: Hardware and specs

• 1.2-inch 300 x 300 pixel display
• No flat tyre 
• Less features than Watch Sport 

The Watch Style offers a smaller 1.2-inch display, compared to the 1.38-inch display on the Watch Sport. The display is nice and bright, offering vibrant colours and crisp text thanks to its 360 x 360 resolution that provides a pixel density of 299ppi.

It didn’t seem as punchy as some of the OLED screens we have seen on the likes of the Apple Watch, but that could be down to the brightness setting, as well as the conditions. There is no flat tyre like there is on the Moto 360 or the Michael Kors Access though, which is definitely a good thing and the touch was very responsive.

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Like the Watch Sport, the Watch Style runs on Qualcomm’s Wear 2100 chip but it has a smaller battery capacity at 240mAh and a little less RAM at 512MB. Operation appeared to be very smooth and fluid though, with no stuttering as we were switching between various features and functions.

The Watch Style also misses out on the other features present on the Watch Sport however, including LTE connectivity, NFC, GPS and heart rate monitoring. It means that while the Style is significantly slimmer in design because it ditches these features, you essentially get a much dumber smartwatch compared to the Sport model.

• Michael Kors Access review

LG Watch Style preview: Android Wear 2.0

• Lots of improvements in software
• Crown is great for navigating

The LG Watch Style was announced at the same time Google released Android Wear 2.0, designed to show off the new features of the updated wearable platform. The new software is lovely compared to the previous version, oozing maturity, practicality and refinement.

The rotational control is great. Pressing the crown button on the right of the Watch Style opens the app menu, and presents you with round icons around the display. The crown will then scroll through these apps (you can favourite apps to keep them at the top of the list), to make it easy to get to things – it’s much more dynamic than the old flat list.

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Users can switch watch faces easily with a swipe too, like you can on Apple Watch, and complications have also been added, allowing you to customise watch faces with the elements you want to see, such as step count.

There is also a new quick settings shade for instant actions and the Google Fit app has also been significantly improved, though the Watch Sport is the more suitable device to give you a better idea of your activity progress.

• What’s new in Android Wear 2.0?

First Impressions

The LG Watch Style is simple, sophisticated smartwatch that’s great for showing off Android Wear 2.0.

It offers a much smarter and more feminine design to its more rugged brother, as well as interchangeable straps, though it does miss out in several useful features in the process, like NFC.

We’ll let you know our full verdict once we have it in for full review.