LG's G Watch R: the smartwatch that looks like a watch

LG's latest G Watch R smartwatch ditches a square screen for round with more traditional men's watch styling. Photograph: LG

LG has announced a new, round Android Wear smartwatch with a conventional men's watch design.

The LG G Watch R is a follow up to the original square G Watch, one of the first Android Wear watches launched at Google's I/O developer conference in June with the Samsung Gear Live.

The Watch R has a steel frame, which resembles a more traditional men's analogue sports watch with a 1.3in round plastic OLED screen and an interchangeable standard watch strap.

LG Photograph: LG

Sales of smartwatches have been sluggish, data shows, partly because functionality is limited to notifications, which has not appealed to the mass market.

But smartwatches have also suffered because of their techie appearance, failing to appeal to consumers who prefer watches as jewellery. Both LG's latest design, and Motorola's highly anticipated round Moto 360 next month, are attempting to counter that.

Apple is also rumoured to be releasing a wearable in September to challenge the herd of Android-only Google smartwatches.

LG Photograph: LG

The Watch R is waterproof to IP67 standards, or 1m of fresh water for up to 30 minutes, so designed to survive a rain shower. It is also powered by the same 1.2GHz processor as the original G Watch, connecting to an Android smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth, and has a similar sized battery, meaning that battery life should be at least one full day of usage.

The Watch R will also have a heart rate monitor, like Samsung's Gear Live, for fitness tracking connecting to LG's Health app for Android.

The Watch R will be shown off at the IFA electronics trade show in Berlin next week, and go one sale in the fourth quarter. Pricing was not announced.

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