A little earlier this year, google announced Android Wear 2.0. a much needed up date for Google’s smart watch OS. and with the announcement of Android 2.0 came the LG Watch Style and the LG Watch Sport. I’ve already reviewed the LG Watch style so you can check that out after this video, but today we’re reviewing the more expensive and featured pack LG Watch Sport.
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First up whats the difference between the LG Watch Style and the LG Watch Sport. Well for starters the Lg Watch Style retails for $249 while the Sport Retails for $349. That $100 difference gets you slightly more premium watch with a built in heart rate monitor, gps and LTE connectivity, and a built in speaker. and a few other goodies here and there. like NFC and slightly more ram.
With that out of the way lets get into the unboxing. Thankfully the box for the lg watch sport is much smaller than the LG watch style. when you lift the lid front and center is the watch it self. under that you will find a wall wart and a charging cradle. the lg watch style charges wirelessly and when placed in its charging cradle can be used as night stand. something that i think all smart watches should do. in side the smaller box you will find a USB cable, some documentation , and a sim removal tool.
Like i said earlier, what separates the LG Watch Sport from the LG Watch Style is LTE connectivity. you can pop in a nano sim card into the back of the watch by removing the back plate with the sim tool. personally i don't really need LTE in my smart watch and its never a feature i look for. if LG didnt include LTE in this watch they could have made it slimmer.
Well, i think this is a good enough segway to start talking about the design the of the watch. the LG Watch Sport has a stainless steel case that comes in either Dark blue like this one or Titanium. you only get one TPU wrist strap that is not interchangeable. but its still comfortable enough to wear all day long. the watch itself is 14.2 mm thick and weighs in at a hefty 89.4 grams. this watch really isn't suited for people with smaller wrists. one board theres a 1.38 inch full circle P-OLED screen with a 348 PPI covered by Cornering gorilla glass 3. The LG watch sport has a slightly larger and more pixel dense screen than its little brother the LG watch style. Running the whole thing we’ve got a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ Wear 2100 processor doing processing things. you also get768MB of RAM vs the 512MB of ram found in the LG Watch Style. theres also 4 gigabytes of onboard storage. The LG Watch sport also has a 430 mili amp battery that if you go easy on it you might get a whole day’s use out of it. theres also a built in microphone and speaker so you can take calls from your wrist or argue with Google assistant. connectivity wise theres wifi, bluetooth 4.2 low energy, gps, LTE, and NFC for android pay. when it comes to sensors theres your standard Accelerometer, and Ambient light sensor. but more importantly theres a Barometer, Gyroscope, and that heart rate monitor i mentioned earlier. and finally this watch is IP68 water and dust resistant. this means the watch is water resistant up to 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes. and is Not intended for prolonged or consistent submergence. Which basically means you cant swim with this watch nor will it keep track of your laps.
Using the new android wear 2.0 OS is similar to the original android wear but its much quicker and a little more intuitive. the LG watch sport and Style both have new rotating crowns that allow you to scroll through cards and the app drawer without having to smudge your screen. obviously this is a feature that has been copied from the apple watch but it is welcomed non the less. the lg watch sport also has 2 programmable buttons on either side of the crown. these programable buttons are a great feature for any power user out there. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, smart watches are great for people who are always on the go and need to be on top of their emails, texts, calendar events and phone calls. and just as you'd expect the lg watch sport does a great job at doing just that. when you get an email or text, messages open up quickly and you can respond in a few ways. you can either use canned responses, voice to text or even the new onboard keyboard that is fairly accurate. but since smart watches have never taken off as much as manufacturers had originally had hoped they are now leaning towards the more active community. specifically runners and cyclists. With the added features of the LG Watch sport you are able to track and map your runs and rides, get altitude readings, and monitor your heart rate during your workout. You can also uses these features if you run a treadmill or stationary bike, or even when you lift weights. all of this data can be stored within google’s fit app or you can go into the google play store and download any other fitness app you might prefer.
Over all the LG Watch sport is a much more rugged and premium watch than the LG Watch style. Its leaps and bounds much better than the New Balance Run IQ I reviewed a few weeks ago and those aim for the same type of consumer. Although the LG Watch Sport’s size isn't ideal for people with smaller wrists its still small enough that it will make you wonder how they packed so many features into it. the non interchangeable wrist straps means you’re stuck with only one look and it might not be suited for office life. The LG Watch Sport is a good enough watch, but its a little too bulky. If you’re genuinely interested in the LG Watch Sport then pick it up you wont be disappointed, but if you can hold off for awhile I would. There are a whole bunch of new smart watches in the pipeline for the 2017.