LG Watch Style Android Wear 2.0 Review
Finally, Google has debuted its new wearable OS on a pair of devices made by LG: the Watch Style and the Watch Sport. The LG Watch Style is powered by Android Wear 2.0 with a new dial in a small and simple frame. The LG Watch Style meets the minimum hardware requirements of the Android Wear 2.0. However the Google’s new Operating System is faster and more intuitive than its previous ones. But the thing is the the Operating System isn’t much suitable for the LG Watch Style.
The LG Watch Style can work as an alternative for the Watch Sport whereas the Style is cheap and affordable too even they both don’t differ much. It offers notifications, a supercomputer with everything built-in which makes the watch look bulky and big. The LG Watch Style is an Android Wear 2.0 device that resides more on the basic side of the spectrum but at least it does the basics extremely well.
The watch is launched with not much features but with a significantly delayed Android Wear 2.0. And you may not even find it handsome whereas it is well-priced at a cost of Rs.16,000. It features an on-watch Play store along with most notable standalone apps.
Design:
The LG Watch Style was implemented as a three-layer design, it’s the matte silver on the top, the lugs and crown with polished metal in the middle, and a matte plastic at the bottom. Most part of the Watch Style is stainless steel apart from the plastic bottom where the wireless charging is added. This watch is slimmer than the Huawei watch and the older LG’s watch. The button on the right side is tactile and it gives it a premium look. The small grooves on the edges of the button will keep your finger from slipping while scrolling.
LG has used an Italian genuine leather for its 18 mm band which is fairly soft. It doesn’t even stain easily and features a slider to make to extremely easy to swap out.
Display:
Looking at the Watch Style, the first view is the display. It has a round dial with 360-degrees display. This is the best thing about the LG Watch Style that you can see the display from all the angles. It is a 1.2-inch display with 360 x 360 resolution. There is an ambient light sensor underneath the display and the brightness transitions are smooth and quick. LG has used the P-OLED technology in this watch and it had been using this technology ever since its G Watch R. It may be a cheap screen but is topped with Gorilla Glass 3. This OLED display lets the screen look beautiful in black and also in color. Brightness is the only thing that boosts the screen display.
Software:
Probably, Software is that which everyone is expecting more to Wear. And Google had delivered in this regard. Not only has the UI been tweaked, but additions such as new watch face customization, the Play Store, and Google Assistant make the software a pleasure to use. The LG Watch Style is one of the first smartwatches to run Android Wear 2.0. Google and LG worked together to give a perfect software experience. Whereas the updated OS is far better than the outgoing generation, the match-up of the Style’s hardware and Android Wear 2.0 is perfect.
You get standalone apps along with the Android Wear 2.0. It does take more time for these apps to launch and load completely, but it is occasionally faster than pulling out your smartphone. Simply, you can now have all your favorite apps on your wrist.
The software performance on the Watch Style is far more better than that of the Watch Sports. The Style had some lag with it, and they all were fixed after the firmware was updated. After getting the update, the Style and Sport are now on the same version of Android Wear.
Google Assistant:
With Android Wear 2.0 comes the arrival of Google Assistant. This version of Assistant is very similar to the version running on the Google Pixel. You can ask questions, set reminders, and more with the Google Assistant. To activate it, all you have to do is hold down on the digital crown for a second, and you’ll know when it’s listening when the “Hi, how can I help?” text pops up. The Watch Style doesn’t have any built-in speakers to respond unlike the Pixel and Google Home has. So you get a written answer. And since the screen is so small, you’ll have to either swipe down on the screen or use the digital crown to read everything.
The Google Assistant on the Style has a flaw that it takes more time to answer your questions. As the watch is receiving data from your smartphone or Wi-Fi, the voice recognition can take longer than it usually does on other devices. While answers to simple questions might take a few seconds to show up, you could be standing in one spot with your arm raised for close to 10 seconds waiting for the Style to tell you the answer.
But often, the Google Assistant failed on the Style. Around a quarter of the time, the Watch Style would just take more time trying to comprehend what I had asked it before timing out. This is all because Google Assistant is new and will be updated at times.
Google Play Store:
This LG Watch Style doesn’t need to have an Android Phone paired with your Android Wear device to get apps on your wrist. Also all the application installed on your phone are not necessarily shown up on your wearable. With Android Wear 2.0, smartwatches have a pared-down version of the Google Play Store built right into the device. So whatever apps are installed on your watch Style, only are those found on your wrist.
You may use the available applications on your Style or download from the Google Play Store directly to the Style. But you find all the apps to be clumsy on the Style’s small screen. No worries, you can search the required apps through the Google Play Store on your desktop and send them directly to your watch.
You can install the Android Wear version of applications you have downloaded on your smartphone from your Style’s Play Store. App updates and everything else happen automatically in the background so that you don’t need to worry about them.
Battery Life:
The battery life on the Style can be hit or miss. It depends on the reception of notifications and playing with apps on the watch. With only a 240mAh battery on the Style, it doesn’t have any added hardware built-in that would drain it. Unlike the Watch Sport, the Style has a lower resolution screen, less RAM, and it doesn’t have to power GPS or LTE. You can see getting more notifications with the Style with the always-on screen setting enabled. Even though, this could last a complete day without getting it recharged its battery.
Having just a small battery, Style takes a very less time to get the battery charged. As it uses wireless charging, you just have to place the smartwatch onto the puck-like charger that comes in the box and it will start charging.
Conclusion:
Unlike the other smartwatches, LG Watch Style is just a thing that can get you updated with the notifications from your phone. It runs with the Android Wear 2.0 which is found to be one of the things found in the Style. It packs Google Play Store, Google Assistant, and many other features with itself.
You May Also Like:
A new Fitbit update allows Android users to reply SMS message in Smartwatch
Huawei Watch 2 Pro Is First eSIM Android Wear Smartwatch
