LG Watch Urbane reviews round-up: Find out what tech critics are saying

The **LG Watch Urbane** , showcased at the recent LG tech show in India, seems like a worthy contender in the Android Wear segment with a nifty set of specs. Though it is slated to launch here, there is no word on the exact availability details of the device. Meanwhile, it is available for grabs in the US at **$349** , and some tech enthusiasts have already penned down their reviews. Let’s take a quick look at what tech critics are saying about the LG Watch Urbane. With the Urbane, LG continues to adopt the round design over square. It is available with metal as well as rubber strap options. The design has received mixed reactions. DroidLife’s Kellex said, “It’s big, shiny, and somewhat cheap looking. While the Watch Urbane wants to evoke a sense of luxury, it just comes up short in both rose gold and silver options. From a combination of the really uncomfortable leather band (with contrast stitching from the 90s) to the glossy coating on the watch itself, it’s all just a bit cheesy. I can’t think of another way to put it.” On the other hand, AndroidCentral’s Phil Nickinson said “We can’t stress this enough — the Urbane is one of the best designed Android Wear watches we’ve seen thus far. (I’d personally leave room for the ASUS ZenWatch, but that’s a sort of round-square hybrid.) The brushed metal bezel is a nice touch. And the chrome body isn’t bad.” Design is afterall a personal take, but one thing’s for sure that the watch is quite big in size. TheVerge’s Dieter Bohn points out, “It’s the largest watch I can wear comfortably on my relatively small wrists. It’s 52mm tall and almost 11mm thick. Unless you’re sure that you like big watches, you can trust that this one is too big.” One of the biggest highlight is the wearable  runs Android 5.1, which is yet to roll out to other Android Wear devices. It comes with several watch faces but Chronos and Chairman steal the show. It also lets you draw emojis when replying to a text message. “The swipes are responsive and the palm-cover method of dimming the screen exists just as you’d hope - plus LG still has the decent always on dim screen so you’ll always be able to look at the time. It’s so infuriating to have to tap the watch to see the time when we’ve spent years being able to just glance down, so I’m glad LG’s done that, " points out Gareth Beavis in the Techradar review. It also knows your phone’s Wi-Fi network well. “If your watch strays out of Bluetooth range with your phone, the latter can send notifications via Wi-Fi instead, and then watch will then receive them via Wi-Fi,” adds Nickinson. The LG Urbane features a 320 x 320 pixel 1.3-inch P-OLED display and comes powered by a Snapdragon 400 chipset clocked at 1.2GHz and coupled with 1GB of RAM. It has 4GB of onboard storage and users can install their own music without the need for a phone. It also includes a 410mAh battery. Overall, the device runs without any hiccups. “Thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, this watch performs without many hiccups, breezes in and out of apps, and shouldn’t hold you back from getting the things done you need to get done on a wearable,” mentions the DroidLife review. Though not great, but the watch offers a decent battery life. “My battery life has been a little hit and miss. Most days I make it home before needing to hit the charger. Occasionally I pull in the driveway after being gone nine or 10 hours with the watch screaming for some juice. Your mileage will vary depending on how many notifications plow through every day,” says Nickinson. TheVerge review states, “I’m getting a full day of battery life and then some. It’s not the two-to-three days that I personally believe should be the minimum for a smartwatch, but it’s better than most of the competition, Apple Watch included..” “If you want an Android Wear smartwatch that actually looks like a watch, the Urbane fits that bill. It looks like it’s trying a little too hard to be a high-end watch, perhaps, but it’s also the best we’ve currently got. It doesn’t look bad at all, it’s just not quite as detailed as what you’re used to seeing in a watch of this price range,” Android Central concludes. “In the end, the Watch Urbane wouldn’t even be in my top three list of Android Wear watches to consider. It’s big, not designed well for a human wrist, doesn’t feature anything spectacular over other watches, is uncomfortable to wear, and is more expensive than all of the rest by at least $50,” DroidLife concludes.