The sleek new LG Watch Urbane LTE smartwatch is ready to hit retail in the company's home country of Korea, but it will be quite pricey.
The LG Watch Urbane LTE made its official debut earlier this month, just ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015. As the name itself suggests, this high-end smartwatch boasts LTE connectivity of its own, which means that it will allow wearers to enjoy high-speed LTE connectivity straight from their wrist. The LG Watch Urbane LTE is designed to work independently from a smartphone, and runs a special operating system based on WebOS.
"The LG Watch Urbane LTE, a next-generation wearable watch, will also include NFC and a host of other features that have never been offered before on a smart device for the wrist," LG touted in a press release back in February, ahead of the gadget's official debut at the MWC.
"As the fourth smartwatch from LG, the LG Watch Urbane LTE is the most ambitious. It offers the style and sophistication of a real analog watch and adds to this the highest level of micro-technology centered around a 1.3-inch Plastic-OLED display," the company added. "Under the P-OLED display, the LG Watch Urbane LTE packs all the communication capabilities of a smartphone in a polished, metal wristwatch. Like any 4G phone, it can make and answer calls as well as send and receive text messages. With carrier support, the smartwatch offers push-to-talk (PTT) capability with other devices on the same cellular network so customers can use their LG Watch Urbane LTE as a walkie-talkie with unlimited range to talk to multiple parties at the same time."
LTE connectivity on a smartwatch, however, comes with quite a hefty price tag apparently. LG just announced the availability of its new LG Watch Urbane LTE in its home country of Korea, where it's set to launch on Friday, March 27, at a whopping 650,000 won (nearly $590) price point.
Although devices typically have higher prices in Korea compared to the U.S., the LG Watch Urbane LTE will likely remain on the pricey side even when or if it makes it to other markets outside Korea.
The price of the LG Watch Urbane LTE in Korea is almost twice as high as that of the LG G Watch R, which costs 352,000 won (about $318) in the country. In other words, the LG Watch Urbane is nearly as expensive as a high-end smartphone.
