Following LG Watch Urbane Debut, G Watch R Drops From $299 To $249
It seems as though LG has employed a bad good, better, best strategy with its Android Wear smartwatch family. The company first released the G Watch, which was a blandly-designed smartwatch that probably shouldn’t have left the LG labs. Next up came the G Watch R, which brought with it a fully circular display and a sport-oriented design. Finally, LG stepped up to the plate with the Watch Urbane, which also includes a circular display but ups the style factor immensely compared to its predecessors.
The Watch Urbane went on sale earlier today via the U.S. Google Store for $349 and as a result, the G Watch R is receiving a price cut to distance itself from its newer, flashier sibling. The G Watch R’s price has been cut from $299 to $249, which puts a $100 spread between the two Android Wear smartwatches.
Unfortunately, the price cut still doesn’t put the G Watch R on even footing with the most popular Android Wear smartwatch on the market: the Motorola Moto 360. The Moto 360 recently was slashed from $249 to $179 in the Google Store. Given the price disparity, the Moto 360 is likely to retain its sales crown… for now.
If you need a refresher, the G Watch R features a 1.3-inch P-OLED display, 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of onboard storage. It also features a 410 mAh battery which is good for 24 hours of battery life and IP67 dust/water resistance.
This also brings us to another downside of the G Watch R (at least compared to the Moto 360). Google announced a major update for Android Wear last week that brings in support for Wi-Fi. The Moto 360 supports Wi-Fi as Motorola was able to include a Wi-Fi antenna from the start. LG, however, failed to include a Wi-Fi antenna on the G Watch and G Watch R — that means that you will lose out on the added functionality that comes with new OS update. But if you want Wi-Fi on an LG smartwatch, there’s always the Watch Urbane…
