LG G Watch R Circular Android Wear Smartwatch Goes on Sale

Announcing the availability, Jeff Chang, Senior Product Manager, Android Wear in a blog post said, "Today we're welcoming another exciting addition to the family: the LG G Watch R."

(Also see: LG G Watch R Price Revealed; Most Expensive Android Wear Smartwatch So Far)

The South Korean company had last month announced that its G Watch R Android Wear smartwatch would be available for purchase at retail sites throughout Europe including France, Italy, Spain and the UK in the beginning of November, followed by key markets in North America, Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) soon after.

Notably, LG is yet to announce price and availability details of the G Watch R circular smartwatch for the Indian market.

The price tag of LG's G Watch R when compared to the company's first Android Wear smartwatch indicates the company is pegging it as a premium wearable. The LG G Watch was unveiled at $229 and EUR 199 and was made available in India at a price of Rs. 14,999.

(Also see: Android Wear Update to Bring Custom Faces, Offline Music Playback and More)

The LG G Watch R smartwatch is more expensive than the Samsung Gear Live unveiled at a price tag of $199 and EUR 199 (and launched in India at Rs. 15,900), and Motorola's Moto 360, which went on sale in the US priced at $249 (and available in India at Rs. 17,999).

The LG G Watch R was unveiled alongside the Samsung Gear S at IFA. The LG G Watch R features a circular 1.3-inch Plastic OLED or P-OLED display, a technology first seen with the LG's G Flex (Review | Pictures) smartphone. The display comes with a 360x360 pixel resolution and unlike the Moto 360, is claimed to utilise 100 percent of the watch face.

Falling under the Android Wear umbrella, the G Watch R is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor paired with 512MB of RAM. The smartwatch features the same amount of inbuilt storage as the Gear S (4GB), and is backed by a 410mAh battery. The smartwatch is also IP67-certified and is claimed by the firm to run for 30 minutes in 1 metre of water.

The LG G Watch R features voice recognition notifications that can provide information related to missed calls, upcoming meetings, events, and local weather forecasts. As for the health features, the smartwatch includes a suite of LG health and fitness apps along with the ability to track users' heartbeats via the embedded photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor. Other sensors on the G Watch R are the 9-axis (gyro/ accelerometer/ compass), and barometer.

The G Watch R smartwatch features a stainless steel frame, and is supported by a 22mm calf skin leather strap. The G Watch R will be available only in Black colour.