Headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, LG Electronics Inc. is a South Korean multinational electronics company that is a member of the LG Group. (Photo : Reuters)
LG decided to finally launch its LG Watch Urbane LTE in South Korea on Friday with its $589 price tag.
The tech giant's smartwatch boasts the capability to directly make and receive phone calls, send SMS, make payments through NFC (Near-Field Communication) without the need for an actual smartphone.
The LG Watch Urbane LTE also comes with a universal SIM card, which will utilize any 4G LTE network from available carriers, according to CNET.
LG made its smartwatch different as most wearables available today have very limited functions. Smartwatch users often need to already own a smartphone to enjoy their device. There is also an issue with compatibility. For instance, smartwatches that are based on Android Wear are only compatible with other Android devices.
The LG Watch Urbane LTE can also be linked with smartphones running LG's WebOS, which can run on Android 4.4 or higher.
LG's new watch sports a clear 1.3-inch plastic organic LED display and features a powerful 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 microchip coupled with a 700mAh battery, according to Engadget. LG is also claiming that the Watch Urbane LTE's metal body resists scratches and corrosions.
Other features of the new smartwatch include GPS location sharing, push-to-talk capability and speech translation.
The LG Watch Urbane LTE is currently only available in South Korea, but the company said that their plans on selling the product globally will depend heavily on how it does in Korea.
However, consumers in the United States will still be able to grab the LG Watch Urbane without LTE capability from AT&T.
