This wearable technology will be based on Android Wear and will be released in the U.K. for no more than £180.
The electronics manufacturer from South Korea, LG, has announced that it will be launching its Android Wear LG G smartwatch in the United Kingdom in July for a price of £180 or less.
This will be the first wearable technology produced by the company that will run on Android’s platform.
This announcement was recently made in Weybridge at the U.K. showcase for the company. It is the very first time that a smartwatch has been seen running on the new shrunken version of Android that is made specifically for wearable technology devices. This suggests that Google’s own wearables pricing might be structured to beat those of companies such as Samsung and their Gear devices.
The smartwatch revealed by LG was a nonfunctioning demonstration unit and was considered attractive by many.
The mock-up device had a watch face that was rectangular in shape. It has a plastic strap and doesn’t have any buttons. This is very similar to the previous mock-ups that have been presented to represent the future device. That said it is also strikingly different from the Motorola wearables that will also be based on Android Wear and that were announced earlier this year with a round face.
Google is currently working with a number of different fashion brands and electronics manufacturers so that they will be able to release a series of different smartwatches that will be based on the Android Wear platform and that will come available later on this year. Equally, it looks as though watches are only the start of the company’s entry into wearables, as this is only the first form of the Android Wear system. It could also be extended to other forms of devices, as well.
This upcoming smartwatch will provide wearers with notifications of messages and posts on their social media apps and will allow them to send messages to friends and receive updates regarding local weather. It will also be able to receive some voice commands that will be especially helpful in conducting local searches.
The technology giant and the designer accessory brand are coming together for wearables fashion and functionality.
As soon as the Android Wear operating system for wearables such as the smartwatch were announced, Google stated that a number of large brands such as LG, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and Asus would all be powered by the OS later on this year.
That said, Google also dropped another important name, though not of a tech brand: Fossil.
Fossil is a designer brand of accessories and clothing and will now be working with Google in the design of its smartwatch, causing its shares to rise considerably. The designer brand is based in Richardson, Texas. Its chief strategy and marketing officer, Greg McKelvey said that it is a company that is driven by design and innovation in the creation of products with which customers will simply fall in love.
Now the brand is hoping that a new kind of accessory, the smartwatch, will be something its customers love.
McKelvey released a statement in which he explained the company’s perspective on these wearables. In it, he said that “We believe we are uniquely positioned to develop and bring to market products for our fashion customers that marry the beauty of our designs, the promise of our brands and now the function of new technology.”
He pointed out that this form of wearable technology is “still very much in the formative research and development stage,” but that they are actively taking part in a drive toward wearables that will bring tech and fashion together.
As it is becoming widely believed that one of the primary barriers standing in the way of the widespread adoption of wearable technology is its clunky, large, science fiction geek look, the development of a device by a fashion designer could mean that this struggle could be overcome. Many feel that companies need to work together in order to speed up the development of devices that people will actually wear, instead of releasing one generation after the next that draws curiosity but doesn’t generate the necessary sales.
It will be interesting to see what designers do to the smartwatch over the next few months, as it could change the face – so to speak – of these devices, altogether.
