LG teases round watch; takes cut at Motorola Moto 360

posted by Alan F. / Aug 27, 2014, 10:21 AM

LG teases its new round smartwatch

On Sunday, LG teased a round-faced smartwatch that it is calling the LG G Watch R. The "R" stands for round. With a preponderance of smartwatches coming to market with rectangular faces, the Motorola Moto 360 grabbed plenty of attention by being a semi-circle (falling short of being a full circle, thanks to the cutout on the bottom of the dial). The suits in the LG Boardroom probably figured that if Motorola's smartwatch could get plenty of attention falling just shy of sporting a full circular design, imagine what kind of attention LG could get with a perfectly circular watch dial.

And to rub in the fact that the Moto 360 is not quite a perfect circle, on Wednesday LG posted a teaser for its new timepiece by showing a picture of the LG G Watch R, with the tag line "Smart Comes Full Circle." That is quite a clever dig at the less than perfectly round Motorola timepiece.

Today's leak shows the LG G Watch R and it appears to be a sporty timepiece with a smaller face than the Moto 360. We should learn all about it at IFA 2014, which begins September 5th in Berlin.

source: LG via GSMArena, AndroidAuthority

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17 Comments

1. peace247 unregistered

looking quite promising..... and no black bar at the bottom like moto 360...

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 10:23 AM 0

3. RandomUsername

Posts: 808; Member since: Oct 29, 2013

Really? What difference does it make?

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 11:34 AM 1

4. MINDoSOUL

Posts: 322; Member since: Feb 28, 2014

The difference is that its's very distracting and annoying at the same time that's my personal opinion, technically it isn't round it simply has a round shell.

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 11:52 AM 1

8. Bjray

Posts: 199; Member since: May 29, 2014

Yeah, but in-return you get a huge bezel, which also means a smaller display (either it's the same size size as the Moto 360 with a smaller screen or it's way larger to have the same LCD size) that's the exact reason why Motorola designed it with a minimalistic bezel.

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 12:49 PM 0

14. 0xFFFF

Posts: 3806; Member since: Apr 16, 2014

It's definitely a subjective preference. I will take the nice dial bezel any day over an ugly plastic dead zone at the bottom of the watch. Especially when the dial bezel appears to come with a cool circular LED notification light :)

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 5:36 PM 0

13. sgodsell

Posts: 7215; Member since: Mar 16, 2013

That black bar also holds the light sensor for the moto 360. Does the LG G Watch R have a light sensor? Actually we haven't seen any specs for the R watch.

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 5:28 PM 0

15. 0xFFFF

A higher tech ambient light sensor could be put into the device in many different ways, not just some huge photodiode type thing that Moto appears to be using. Hopefully LG will share all the details of the "R" at IFA.

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 5:38 PM 0

2. MINDoSOUL

Very very smart move. Lg are playing their cards right by taking the advantage of the Moto 360 shortcomings, i simply hope they better them in the battery department which i doubt.

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 11:09 AM 2

5. BattleBrat

Posts: 1476; Member since: Oct 26, 2011

I'd rather have a black bar, than a fat bezel!

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 12:00 PM 3

12. VZWuser76

Posts: 4974; Member since: Mar 04, 2010

Baby got bezels!

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 4:49 PM 0

6. Busyboy unregistered

I've lost all respect for LG. How could they release a new smart watch just a few months after the G watch?

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 12:00 PM 0

7. GoBears

Posts: 456; Member since: Apr 27, 2012

That's the speed of technology. Might as well get used to it. Everyone bashes Samsung for the same thing but I love it. It's great having all these new products to choose from.

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 12:21 PM 1

9. Taters

Posts: 6474; Member since: Jan 28, 2013

Looks like a real watch.

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 1:05 PM 1

10. dc123

Posts: 20; Member since: Feb 11, 2014

I wonder if that purple light around the outside ring of the watch in the teaser video is a hint at a led notification light.

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 1:25 PM 1

11. jaytai0106

Posts: 1888; Member since: Mar 30, 2011

I think I'll just get the Moto X bc they are the first company who has the ball to make a round Android Wear.

posted on Aug 27, 2014, 1:38 PM 0

16. givemespecs unregistered

The R stands for 'Render'

posted on Aug 28, 2014, 7:03 AM 0

17. givemespecs unregistered

It's not even 'Real' or 'Readily Available' !!! There's no price and no availability. It will be so funny if Apple announces the iWatch on Sept 9th with availability a couple of weeks later.