LG Watch Style

There are better (and longer-lasting) smartwatches available to go with both Android and iPhones.

As one of the two first watches to launch with the long-awaited update to Android Wear, the LG Watch Style is sadly underwhelming. Despite its name, the Style has a bland design and only meets Android Wear 2.0's minimum hardware requirements. On the bright side, Google's new operating system is faster and more intuitive than before. Too bad the Style isn't a great vehicle for that polished new software.

As the face of Android Wear 2.0, LG's Watch Style delights with a thin, sophisticated look and a offers a new-found freedom from your phone.

Smartwatches could be great, someday. Without the Newton, there may never have been iPhone. But smartwatches won’t get there until they look good and do all the things you need and the batteries last days, plural. Right now, every smartwatch requires a fundamental compromise. Buyers don’t want to compromise, and shouldn’t have to. The LG Watches improve upon their predecessors in real ways, but neither provides a convincing argument that you suddenly need a computer on your wrist.

The LG Watch Style puts the emphasis on looks over features and from that perspective it does deliver. This is one of the best looking Android Wear watches out there, but the slender form comes at an expense of features that could have made this smartwatch even more desirable. No GPS and heart rate sensor we can understand, but the lack of NFC seems criminal. If you want a streamlined Android Wear 2.0 experience packed into a slim body, then the LG Watch Style is worth considering, though we'd bet on the competition blending a more potent mix of style and features before long.