LG G Watch R review: Hands-on

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We've seen plenty of new smartwatches unveiled, but the big question is 'square or round'? The LG G Watch R says 'round'...

Arriving just a few months after the LG G Watch, the new LG G Watch R sports the world's first circular plastic OLED display, packs Google's Android Wear and is set to go head to head with the likes of the Moto 360, Samsung Gear S and Sony SmartWatch 3.

We went along to LG's unveiling for a first look...

LG G Watch R: Size and build

Like the Moto 360, LG has opted for a traditional round clock face - in fact the somewhat awkwardly named G Watch R looks more like a traditional timepiece than any other smartwatch we've seen. It sports a numbered bezel (although it doesn't rotate), plus a button on the side which takes the place of the traditional winder.

The device is water resistant to 1m, so it'll probably be ok in the shower, but you might not want to go swimming in it.

The model we tried was fitted with a rubber wrist strap so that wearing it felt just like a standard diving watch.

LG G Watch R: Features

Along with an accelorometer, compass and gyro, there's also a heart rate monitor on board, a neat addition if you're into fitness tracking.

The device is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and uses Bluetooth 4.0 to connect to your smartphone (naturally, the maker wants you to use it with its LG G3).

LG G Watch R: Display

The P-OLED screen measure 1.3 inches across and has a resolution of 320x320, which means that while the screen isn't jaw-droppingly sharp, it's more than good enough for checking your notifications and telling the time.

We had no problems scrolling through the menu screens and found the display to be perfectly responsive with no lag - a good sign seeing as we were looking a pre-production models.

LG G Watch R: Battery

LG promises a two-day battery life, which isn't bad but a longer break between charges would have been nice to see. Annoyingly, you'll need a charging cradle which more hassle than simply charging via micro USB.

Obviously we'll be testing out the battery in more detail as soon as we can get our hands on a full review sample.

LG G Watch R: Verdict

We love the design of the LG G Watch R and it's also comfy to wear and packs a respectable feature list.We won't really know how good it is until we have a full review model in our hands, but for now we can safely say that the LG G Watch R is the best-looking smartwatch we've seen so far. Stay tuned for a full review.

LG G Watch R release date: October 2014

LG G Watch R price: TBC