LG Electronics teased in a video that it will unveil a new smart watch with a circular face next week at the IFA electronics trade show in Berlin, competing more directly with Motorola Mobility's Moto 360, which has circular design and is expected to be formally announced next week as well.
LG already has a smart watch running Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android Wear software, called the G Watch, which is currently on sale for $229. The name of the new watch is hinted in the video to be the G Watch R, with "R" perhaps standing for "round." The video indicates LG will "round the corners" and "rounds the bends" to create a "perfect circle," and glimpses of the new gadget are seen in the video. The short turnaround between the launch of the original Watch and the forthcoming new watch suggests that the G Watch R was in development alongside the original, and could be a more polished version of the gadget.
Motorola's Moto 360 has received far more attention and praise than the G Watch and the Samsung Electronics Gear Live, which have square faces.
The Moto 360 smart watch will cost $250 at retail, according to a leaked product page that appeared on the website of retailer Best Buy. Motorola is expected to formally announce the Moto 360's availability at a media event on Sept. 4 in Chicago. According to Droid Life, which copied the details from the product page before it was taken down, the Moto 360 will sport a 1.5-inch backlit LCD touch screen, with a 320x290 resolution and Corning's Gorilla Glass 3. The device will also have 512 MB of RAM, Bluetooth connectivity and a Texas Instruments processor inside.
Competition in the wearables market is expected to heat up this fall when Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is expected to unveil its long-rumored wearable device, which many have dubbed the iWatch. Apple's rumored device is expected to focus primarily on health and fitness monitoring. HTC is also is expected to announce a smart watch.
For more:
- see this Engadget article
- see this The Verge article
- see this CNET article
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