LG G Watch R Price Revealed; Most Expensive Android Wear Smartwatch So Far
LG had launched its new G Watch R circular smartwatch on Thursday, ahead of the IFA event next week. The South Korean giant, however, had not revealed the pricing details of the LG G Watch R smartwatch at the time.
Now, LG Germany has confirmed the pricing and availability details of the new smartwatch, at least for the German market. The company in a statement has revealed that the LG G Watch R circular smartwatch will be hitting the market shelves by October at a price of EUR 299, translating to roughly Rs. 23,900. The price tag of LG’s new G Watch R when compared to the company’s first Android Wear smartwatch indicates the company is pegging it as a premium wearable. The LG G Watch was unveiled at $229 and EUR 199 and was made available in India at a price of Rs. 14,999.
The LG G Watch R smartwatch is more expensive than the Samsung Gear Live unveiled at a price tag of $199 and EUR 199 (and launched in India at Rs. 15,900), and Motorola’s upcoming Moto 360, which was recently briefly listed at $249.99 (roughly Rs. 15,250) and is expected to get an official price tag on September 4 event.
LG on Thursday had confirmed that the G Watch R smartwatch would be rolled out to users in the fourth quarter of this year.
The LG G Watch R features a circular 1.3-inch Plastic OLED or P-OLED display, a technology first seen with the LG’s G Flex smartphone. The display comes with a 360×360 pixel resolution. The G Watch R smartwatch features a stainless steel frame, and supported by a 22mm calf skin leather strap. The G Watch R will be available in only Black colour.
Much like the G Watch, the new smartwatch also runs Android Wear and is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor paired with 512MB of RAM. The LG G Watch R smartwatch features the same amount of inbuilt storage as Samsung’s Gear S (4GB), and is backed by a 410mAh battery. The smartwatch is also IP67-certified and is claimed by the firm to run for 30 minutes in 1 metre of water.
The LG G Watch R features voice recognition notifications that can provide information related to missed calls, upcoming meetings, events, and local weather forecasts. As for the health features, the smartwatch includes a suite of LG health and fitness apps along with the ability to track users’ heartbeats via the embedded photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor. Other sensors on the G Watch R are the 9-axis (gyro/ accelerometer/ compass), and barometer.
Samsung, on the other hand, on Thursday also unveiled its new Gear S smartwatch with 3G connectivity and voice calling alongside another wearable product, the Gear Circle Bluetooth headset. The new Samsung wearable products would be hitting global markets in phases, starting October this year.