LG Teases Features of Its Upcoming Android Wear Smartwatch

LG has launched an official site dedicated to teasing technophiles about the upcoming launch of its G Watch.

Expected to go on sale in July and to cost less than $300, the G Watch will use Google’s new Android Wear operating system and will be focused on pushing relevant information and notifications to the wearer’s wrist at exactly the right moment.

The new site provides more information and images of the device but is careful not to reveal much in terms of information on specs and functions. So while we now know that the watch will be dust and water resistant — sufficiently so to appeal to outdoors types — and will be available in champagne gold as well as a stealthy-looking all black finish, LG is being very careful not to give any clues as to the watch’s dimensions or processor specifications.

However, the company says that, unlike a lot of smartwatches already out there (most notably those produced by its main rival, Samsung), the G Watch screen will always be illuminated; there will be no need to tap it, shake it, or speak to it for it to wake up.

(LG)

The watch sports absolutely no buttons and so will respond either to onscreen touches or to voice commands — just say, “OK Google” to prime it and then ask for a weather update or access to the music library.

Whatever its eventual specs when it does go on sale, the G Watch could struggle to follow the Moto 360. The first smartwatch to use the Android Wear operating system is scheduled to launch in June and, unlike LG, Motorola has gone to great lengths to highlight the device’s desirability and the sizable investment it has made in design and in the selection of premium materials so that the watch feels and looks more like something from Switzerland than from Japan.