Skip to main content

A new LG smartwatch featuring Android Wear just earned FCC certification

LG Watch Urbane LTE 2nd gen
Malarie Gokey/Digital Trends
LG has been one of the most faithful Android Wear companies since the line of wearables was first launched, and it looks like the company is prepping yet another smartwatch for 2017. The Federal Communications Commission has issued certification for at least one device this year, but some rumors suggest that we may actually end up with as many as four LG smartwatches.

Unfortunately, the documents reveal very little information about what we should expect to see from LG’s upcoming smartwatch or smartwatches, but it did give us one detail — the watch will be round.

That’s because a few screenshots were provided as part of the listing, and all of those screenshots were images of a round smartwatch. Nothing in the screenshots really gave much away — they just depicted how to navigate to regulatory information, as well as the regulatory information itself. Based on the screenshots, we can also safely say that the device will run Android Wear.

The screenshots follow news from last year that suggested LG was prepping four new watches, to be called the LG Watch Style, Watch Pro, Watch Force, and Watch Sole. The news was discovered through trademark filings by Dutch website GSMInfo, but the names were really all that we know about the devices.

While we don’t know much official information about the watch, we can certainly speculate. It’s likely that the device will run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, which promises to offer as much as 25 percent better battery efficiency than the Snapdragon 400, which can be found in many older smartwatches. The chip also supports 3G and 4G connectivity, so it’s possible that LG’s new watch or watches will need a data plan as well, to allow them to function perfectly fine without a connected smartphone.

It makes sense that companies like LG would want to launch multiple devices — companies are increasingly realizing that watches are a fashion statement, and as such, the “one-style-fits-all” approach that worked in the smartphone industry isn’t necessarily as effective in the smartwatch industry.

Christian de Looper
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
The best thing about Android 13 isn’t a new feature or setting — it’s something else
Android 13 logo on a Google Pixel 6a.

After months of testing, Google has finally unleashed Android 13, its current Android smartphone update for 2022. As far as updates go, it's not one that you'll notice. I've been using Android 13 for around two months prior to its release, and it's been a pretty whelming experience.

Unlike iOS 16, which is a large and hefty update, Android 13 is rather pedestrian. There's not much differentiating it visually or functionally from previous Android releases. Much of what sets Google apart from Apple on this front is that Apple frontloads all its significant app improvements into its big iOS releases. Google trickles its features out as soon as they're ready, so many features announced with Android 13 -- like a revamped Google Wallet and tablet-optimized apps -- have already landed. Because of that, Android 13 is an update that's barren of excitement.

Read more
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chip might actually save Android smartwatches
The Mobvoi TicWatch 3 Pro on someone's wrist.

Qualcomm has a new wearable chip for smartwatches. Actually, there are two of them. They're the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and W5+ Gen 1, and Qualcomm thinks they're the next big revolution in smartwatch chipsets.

Stop me if you've heard this one before. The Snapdragon Wear 3100 from 2018 was also supposed to supercharge Wear OS watches and take them to the next level. But beyond some fairly modest battery improvements, performance on the Wear 3100 left a lot to be desired. And 2020's Wear 4100 and Wear 4100+ chips weren't much better. Qualcomm again made some battery improvements and performance gains, but seldom few smartwatches actually adopted the 4100 platform. A handful of watches from Mobvoi and Fossil use a 4100-series chip, and that's about it. Samsung's Galaxy Watch lineup is using Exynos chips, and rumors even suggest Google's Pixel Watch will do the same.

Read more
Android 12L and Wear OS 3 show Google still isn’t serious about tablets and smartwatches
Onn Android Tablet on Table

Late last year, Google introduced Android 12L, its operating system optimized specifically for tablets and foldables. After years of neglect, Google showed it was finally taking the form factor seriously. The same went for Wear OS 3, with Google breathing new life into smartwatches. There's just one problem for both.

As of the time of writing, not one tablet, foldable, or smartwatch has been updated to either of these operating systems. Google has planned to overhaul how its smartwatch and tablet platforms work for the better, but the company's rollout has undermined its ambitious plans.
Google's lofty ambitions

Read more