Little remembered fact: LG was way ahead of the smartwatch craze when it launched the Prada Link Bluetooth watch back in 2008. And when Google first announced Android Wear back in March, the LG G Watch seemed genuinely exciting—not quite as stylish as the forthcoming Moto 360, but light-years beyond the rudimentary Prada Link. With months of hype behind it, then, it seems strange that the G Watch has been undercut by the Samsung Gear Live, which seemingly came out of nowhere. While both smartwatches give you access to a relatively unmodified version of Android Wear, the $229 G Watch costs $30 more than the Gear Live and lacks a heart rate monitor. And for a company once associated with Prada, I expect a more thoughtful design.
Compatibility, Design, and Display
The versions of Android Wear on the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live are virtually identical, so we're sharing a lot of material between our reviews. Like the Gear Live (as well as all future Android Wear devices), the G Watch requires a companion smartphone in order to use. The operating system only works with devices running Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) or higher, and you need to download the Android Wear app from Google Play in order to connect the watch to your phone. For this review, I tested the G Watch with a Samsung Galaxy S5.
At a glance, the G Watch looks more than a little similar to the Pebble, thanks to its rectangular, plastic design. And even though it costs more than the Gear Live, it has a significantly lower-end feel. The G Watch measures 1.49 by 1.83 by 0.39 inches (HWD) and weighs 2.22 ounces, which makes it a bit heavier than the Gear Live. You can definitely feel it on your wrist.
The watch comes in black or white (which only refers to the color of the watch strap—the face itself is black), with a thick bezel around the display and no physical buttons. The lack of a button seems cool at first, but quickly becomes annoying. When I first received the watch, for instance, I couldn't figure out how to turn it on. That's because the only way to do so is to attach it to a power source. Every time the watch ran out of battery power (which was often), this never felt like the natural way to check if there was any juice left.
On the positive side, I prefer the rubber strap with traditional closure on the G Watch to the finicky dual-prong closure on the Gear Live, which never felt secure. That said, the watch is big enough that you'll never forget it's on your wrist, and neither will anyone else—the large screen draws attention. At least you can swap the included rubber strap out for any 22mm (0.87-inch) band of your choosing. This doesn't make for a more discreet look, but I find the rubber band chunky and unattractive.
Like the Gear Live, the G Watch is rated IP 67 for dust and water resistance, and can safely be immersed in water up to three feet deep.
Hardware and Battery Life
The G Watch is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 512MB RAM, along with 4GB of internal storage, the same as the Gear Live. So far, speed doesn't seem to be a problem for Android Wear, as both watches feel fast and responsive.
The biggest difference between the two watches is that the G Watch has a slightly larger, lower-resolution screen than the Gear Live. The G Watch has a 1.65-inch, 280-by-280-pixel LCD, whereas the Gear Live has a 1.63-inch, 320-by-320-pixel Super AMOLED panel. I generally prefer the highest resolution possible, but in this case, I think the lower resolution actually better serves the form factor. The G Watch displays slightly larger text than the Gear Live, which makes it both easier to read and tap on—and when you're dealing with a display that's smaller than two inches, that's an important factor to consider. That said, the Gear Live definitely looks more vibrant and is easier to read outdoors.
The G Watch connects to your phone via Bluetooth 4.0 and features an accelerometer, a compass, and a gyroscope. Unlike the Gear Live, the G Watch doesn't include a built-in heart-rate monitor. This is probably not a deal breaker for many users, but considering the G Watch works as a pedometer, it would've been a welcome addition.
Another shortcoming is battery life—or lack of it. To be fair, the G Watch actually has a larger 400mAh battery than the Gear Live (which has a 300mAh battery). That, along with the lower resolution, means it actually lasts a little longer than the Gear Live. That said, you can't expect to get much more than a day of battery life out of a single charge, which is frustrating, considering I haven't replaced the battery in my traditional watch in over five years.
All that battery charging is made worse by the fact that you need to plug the watch into a magnetic cradle. It's easier than the Gear Live's snap-on cradle, but here's the problem: The G Watch only charges when you place it in one direction. I absentmindedly attempted to charge it more than once only to realize I put it on in the wrong direction and the watch was still dead.
Thankfully, the G Watch has an always-on screen, like the Pebble, so it always shows the time. It turns monochrome and dims after just a few seconds of inactivity, but it's still nice to have the time close at hand, like a traditional watch. You can set the display to turn it off instead, which will save you some battery life, but in my opinion, a watch should always tell the time. You can tap on the screen to wake the watch, but again, there's no physical button to do this. You can also hold the watch up your face and it will automatically wake up, which worked more reliably on the G Watch than the Gear Live.
Pairing and User Interface
To start using the G Watch, you'll need to activate Bluetooth on your compatible phone and download the Android Wear app from Google Play. Once installed, you can simply follow the prompts on the watch and app to complete the pairing process.
The G Watch is one of the first devices to run Android Wear, which I had very high hopes for. In essence, Android Wear is about putting smartphone notifications and Google Now functionality on your wrist, and I'll get to how that works shortly. First, you need to figure out how to navigate your way around the Android Wear interface, which unfortunately, isn't very simple to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment