Apple Watch Gets Another Competitor in the Android-Based LG Watch Urbane

[RodThePlod]

I got that, I was just going along with what you caught.

Aha! My bad

To be honest, I do actually like the look of this LG Urbane.

I'm itching to make my first smartwatch purchase and, if it wasn't for the Apple Watch being just around the corner, this would definitely be on the shortlist.

RTP.

 

[ChrisTX]

I like the way the Apple Watch is headed, I think that by its second or third iteration it will turn out to be a solid product. The products the came after the rumours for Apple's Watch could indeed be just an answer to them, but keep in mind that Apple didn't singlehandedly think of the idea of a wearable smart device. Keeping in mind Apple's track record it was just the right thing to develop a product before them and have any chance to succeed.

It would all have not mattered, if it weren't for the fact Apple's watch doesn't do anything more than the existing watches. I am more than sure, 90% of the people here saying how marvellous it is haven't even for a second used Android Wear (which by the way also has a lot of third party apps and watch faces, I don't know why you listed that as an Apple Watch advantage).

Just for all those people who praise Apple for no reason: keep in mind smart watches weren't originally thought of by Apple, they were not the first ones to introduce one to the market, it doesn't have ANY advantages or new use cases over the ones that exist now and last but not least it is by far not as beautiful as a swiss time peace and users of those are hardly ever going to switch to an Apple Watch.

P.S. I am probably buying it on day one so I could finally use a smart watch with my iPhone.

While I'm not doubting that Android Wear also supports third party apps because I know the Gear 2 also supports them. This is just a feature you don't see advertised very often. And quite honestly outside of tech circles, you don't see Android Wear advertised much at all. Apple in the end will win because we all know they will advertise the Apple Watch very heavily.

 

[Planins]

While I'm not doubting that Android Wear also supports third party apps because I know the Gear 2 also supports them. This is just a feature you don't see advertised very often. And quite honestly outside of tech circles, you don't see Android Wear advertised much at all. Apple in the end will win because we all know they will advertise the Apple Watch very heavily.

Oh I think that is undoubtly true and is clearly not up for debate. Apple Watch WILL succeed a lot better than Android Wear.

But that was not the point, we are here "in the tech circles" and yet a lot of people have no idea what they are talking about. I just wanted to correct the hugely misinformed people, who are making things up, talking like Apple invented this useful device that lets you have notifications on your wrist like nothing existed before the announcment, let alone the actual launch.

Stll Apple Watch will do better in the market, I can't argue that.

 

[mackinmike]

Thanks for the update on the opposition, but this is not a competitor to the  WATCH. Now, if it ran on iOS, then I would have to agree.

The only competition is Pebble Watch, and the Alcatel One Touch Smart Watch. And since we are Copy & Pasting from The Verge; http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/5/7490483/alcatel-onetouch-watch-hands-on-ces-2015

How is it not.. we don't even know what the specs are for iwatch yet you are assuming it is better.

 

[dexterbell]

dude i talk from 100% experience i just recently got rid of my iphone6 so how does that make me a troll if i owned both phones? do you own both phones? if not then consider yourself a troll.
attach pic shows proof i had both phones

I owned a Note 4, as well as 1-3. When I switched over to an iPhone 6, I joined up here. I didn't stay in a Samsung or Android forum and continually rip Samsung or the Note 4 every chance I got like you seem to be doing. Thats trolling.

 

[samcraig]

While I'm not doubting that Android Wear also supports third party apps because I know the Gear 2 also supports them. This is just a feature you don't see advertised very often. And quite honestly outside of tech circles, you don't see Android Wear advertised much at all. Apple in the end will win because we all know they will advertise the Apple Watch very heavily.

I have an LG G watch. While it's true - I don't see a lot of "marketing" for apps for Android Wear, there is a dedicated section on the Play Store.

That being said - there are many apps that aren't specific to Android Wear but are using it and that's indicated when you update the app and seamlessly use the platform for notifications and other functions.

These type of smart watches are still in their infancy. Use cases will be interesting to look at. For me - I never really wanted or thought I needed a smart watch. "Need" is still questionable. But as I keep my ringer off all day, it's great to get alerts, caller ID, etc on my phone when I'm not looking at it or when I've stepped away. I'm not inclined to want/need apps loaded onto the watch for heavy/heavier interaction. The screen size (for me) would never warrant more complicated actions - or (yikes) gaming, etc.

 

[mrex]

Apple Watch Gets Another Competitor in the Android-Based LG Watch Urbane

Wrong, everyone else is following Apple. WSJ announced THREE YEARS ago that Apple was working on a wearable and everyone tried to rush manufacturer their own.

wrong again, Nokia already worked wearables over a decade ago... and apple rushed to work theirs?

 

[bobob]

wrong again, Nokia already worked wearables over a decade ago... and apple rushed to work theirs?

Can you please post a pic and description of Nokia's wearable from 2005?

 

[Fenez]

Can you please post a pic and description of Nokia's wearable from 2005?

Just for the sake of ending the Apple thought of it first thing... Samsung sph-wp10....introduced in 1999, which would probably mean they were working g on that tech in 98 or 97.. They also released one In 2009 with a rectangular face... That should stop the bickering.
I would bet that it won't however.

 

[Fenez]

.

 

[LordVic]

Microsoft also had the "Microsoft Spot" smartwatch in 2004.

SImple fact of the matter is that since Dick Tracy so famously showed off a watch that did more than tell the time, we have been trying to jam more and more technology into them every day.

From the early calculator watches, Calender watches, Watches with databanks and phone books, to internet connected full screen devices, this has been a market that has been slowly working it's way up for nearly 3 decades, and is only culminating now with Android Wear or Apple Watch.

 

[A MacBook lover]

They folloewd in every one of those markets.

you do realize that Apple didn't invent a single one of those right? they were not the first Mp3 player, Smartphone or tablet.

But they were the best

 

[LordVic]

But they were the best

At the time of launch? it is debatable if they were "the best".

they sure as hell did "bridge the gap" that made EVERYONE know about them.

the refinement Apple brought to their lineup was absolutely refreshing. As someone who had jumped onboard MP3's prior to the iPod's invention, it was absolutely refreshing.

 

[bobob]

Just for the sake of ending the Apple thought of it first thing... Samsung sph-wp10....introduced in 1999, which would probably mean they were working g on that tech in 98 or 97..

Wow - - late 90's was quite a while ago, but look at the Samsung sph-wp10:

...that makes Dick Tracy's watch look positively space-age!

However, Apple was already developing their first smartwatch in the 1980's.

Designed by Jony Ive predecessor Hartmut Esslinger and featured in his book published last year: Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple.

 

[Fenez]

Wow - - late 90's was quite a while ago, but look at the Samsung sph-wp10:

Image

...that makes Dick Tracy's watch look positively space-age!

However, Apple was already developing their first smartwatch in the 1980's.

Image

Designed by Jony Ive predecessor Hartmut Esslinger and featured in his book published last year: Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple.

Well as I stated some won't want to believe that another company could and did introduce this category way before its time. Working devices that have been around since the late nineties. But hey what ever makes someone feel better... Yes I'm sure apple invented it.

 

[kdarling]

Wow - - late 90's was quite a while ago, but look at the Samsung sph-wp10:

..
However, Apple was already developing their first smartwatch...

The difference is, Samsung's wrist phone actually worked

Anyone, as we know from so many wacky fanboy concepts, can make a cool looking fake device which cannot possibly exist at the time it's shown off. Besides, that wasn't an Apple smartwatch. It was a wrist phone.

---

In the real world, Samsung continued to refine their watch phone designs, as REAL life technology allowed:

 

[Fenez]

The difference is, Samsung's wrist phone actually worked

Anyone, as we know from so many wacky fanboy concepts, can make a cool looking fake device which cannot possibly exist at the time it's shown off.

And that wasn't an Apple smartwatch. It was a phone dialer.

---

In any case, Samsung continued to refine their watch phone designs, as REAL life technology allowed:

View attachment 530484
View attachment 530485
View attachment 530487

Won't matter.... Within a few posts someone will explain how you're wrong and Apple did it first.

 

[kdarling]

Can you please post a pic and description of Nokia's wearable from 2005?

Although of course not actually made (same as that Apple mockup above), Nokia's R&D department showed multiple wearable concepts.

The most famous perhaps was the 2005 Nokia 888. Notice the touch interface a couple of years before the iPhone came out:

Ironically, I think this now ten-year-old Nokia design was actually closer to what many fans were hoping to see from Apple as the iWatch.

.

 

[mrex]

Although of course not actually made (same as that Apple mockup above), Nokia's R&D department showed multiple wearable concepts.

not only concepts...

Can you please post a pic and description of Nokia's wearable from 2005?

already earlier

m.pocketnow.com/2004/03/01/nokia-medallion-i

mynokiablog.com/2013/04/02/nokia-nostalgia-nokia-necklace-the-nokia-medallion-i-and-medallion-ii-nokia-smartwatchlocket/

you can buy some from ebay but in high price...

 

[lowendlinux]

Why would anyone be embarrassed by wearing a smart watch?

I would because it's not a watch it's a disposable thing

 

[kdarling]

Wrong, everyone else is following Apple. WSJ announced THREE YEARS ago that Apple was working on a wearable and everyone tried to rush manufacturer their own.

Wearables date back to at least the 1980s. But as far as the current crop, everyone was already working on wearables by 2011. Some were simply further ahead towards production than others.

Samsung and LG had put out touch based smartwatch/phones in 2009. Sony-Ericsson has LiveView in 2010. Motorola had Motoactv in 2011. Sony had their own SmartWatch series in 2012-13. Samsung brought out their first Gear watch in 2013. And of course Android Wear was ready in mid 2014.

Apple is the last major company to produce a smartwatch from their R&D, and yet they still brought nothing radically new to the table.

--

Moreover, back in 2012 it was commonly viewed that it was the extraordinary success of the Pebble Kickstarter project, that had jump started widespread public interest in smartwatches. E.g. The mobile watch revolution is here, thanks to Pebble - April 2012

So when the later 2013 WSJ/NYT articles mentioned a possible Apple watch, that was NOT the start of all the other wearable projects, but only the start of their public exposure. (For example, it was later revealed that in the summer of 2012, Google had quietly bought up WiMM Labs and their late 2011 Android based smartwatch.)

-- The upshot:

Did the knowledge that Apple might release in 2014 push others to release their products earlier than they might've? That could be. But it didn't start their wearable projects, because they were already well in progress.

For that matter, it looks now like Apple ALSO released earlier than they wanted. Without all the competition, they probably would've waited until they could include the health sensors that they originally wanted.

 

[topmounter]

You're actually in the vast majority right now. But over time when smartwatches, led by the Apple Watch, start winning people over you'll eventually find yourself in the minority unless you yourself change your mind. Which you probably will eventually.

I expect that at some point someone will create something that will obviate the need to carry a phone in my pocket, but in the meantime, I don't see having to fiddle with more gadgets as being some sort of improvement.

 

[bobob]

The mobile watch revolution is here

Heh - - not one of ZDnet's finest headlines - - who even remembers those clunky old mainframe watches?

 

[kdarling]

Heh - - not one of ZDnet's finest headlines - - who even remembers those clunky old mainframe watches?

?? The Pebble is still well known.

ZDNet was absolutely correct. It was Pebble's incredible Kickstarter record that brought back everyone's attention to smartwatches.

 

[bobob]

?? The Pebble is still well known.

ZDNet was absolutely correct. It was Pebble's incredible Kickstarter record that brought back everyone's attention to smartwatches.

So you've really seen of these non-mobile watches inferred by ZDnet?!?