Well... it happened. I bought myself a smart watch. It was a long and inner debate between the LG G Watch R and the Moto 360, with the first winning it after quite a struggle. This article represents the first chapter of a two-part in depth review. First I will present the watch and all its ups and downs. Later on, in the second chapter, I will express my opinions regarding Android Wear and the whole experience behind it. But first things first, let's start with the LG G Watch R.
The watch itself
It's plain beautiful. I like it a lot! The black palette is very well finished and the watch looks much more gorgeous in real life than what you can see from the pictures or from the Youtube reviews.
On the right side you will find a single button where you can switch the display between being active or dimmed. Also when you flick your wrist the display becomes active making the use of the button a rare case. On the back you can find the pin slots for the charger and the heart rate sensor.
The best part is the battery and processing power. The battery can last up to two and a half days which is the best choice compared to the current competition. With the CPU Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400, 1.2GHz processor the experience is smooth, but there are sometimes a few lags here and there - I especially noticed this when checking my heart rate, but nothing to worry about. Overall it runs lean and clean.
Those faces!
The watch faces go very well with the high pixel density round display (full round display to be precise). You simply are tempted to change 2 or 3 faces per day. And the best part, with the right face active, you can wear it with both casual and formal outfits.
Here are a few watch faces I use daily. I love that you also have a dimmed version for each of them.
The downsides
Although not critical, they are worth mentioning at least. The bezel it's a bit too much, but you get used to it. There is no internal GPS, so you still need the phone for apps like Strava.
You are stuck with an external magnetic charger, so be careful not to lose it (God Forbid!) or you're pretty much fudged. Finally, the strap is a bit cheap in terms of looks and feels, but good thing is interchangeable with any 22mm watch strap. I intend to buy a brown/orange one to go with other outfits. Yes, I'm that picky.
The strap is very cheap looking and you are limited to the external charger.
Wearing it
Due to my not-so-impressive wrist, the watch tends to lag a little when I close the strap. So I need to be extra careful when I move around my hands freely - not to scratch or hit it against something. As much bulkiness is fitted in, the lighter it is. Trust me, it's very light and quite impressive on the same hand. I think if I went with the Moto 360, my wrist would've looked pretty funny and strange.
Conclusions
The watch is worth buying. It has its constrains, but you'll learn to adapt to them. Looking back now at the Moto360, I don't regret a thing. The competition might have bigger display, wireless charging or GPS, but that don't mean squat. At this point, the LG G Watch R is the best smart watch you can buy today. There I said it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, because Huawei and Apple will launch their versions soon enough. Let the Watch Games begin!
Final Rating ★★★★☆
From now on all my reviews will feature a five-star rating system.
☆☆☆☆☆ - Better off buying a Shake Weight.
★☆☆☆☆ - Again, buying stuff I don't need.
★★☆☆☆ - Good... to give it as a gift.
★★★☆☆ - OKish. You won't regret it.
★★★★☆ - It's worth every penny!
★★★★★ - Awesomedary!
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