



While the Apple Watch is enjoying the spotlight, LG and others are quietly bringing Android-friendly smartwatches to the U.S. market. The latest competitor to the Apple Watch is the downright gorgeous LG Watch Urbane, which is available on the Google Store now.The LG Watch Urbane starts at $349, which is the same price as the Apple Watch Sport . But where the Sport has a “sport band” and an aluminum case, the Urbane sports a leather band and a steel body. Interestingly, the watch is designed to let you swap the included watch band with other standard watch bands.You can wirelessly link the Urbane to compatible Android devices, like the Nexus 6 smartphone or Nexus 9 tablet to receive notifications, track steps, and play music, among other tasks. The watch can play offline music when you go for a run, provided you have Bluetooth headphones on. And, it’s somewhat water resistant. LG says that it can handle being dunked less than a meter into water, which is all the watch will need to survive typical accidents.The watch runs Android Wear on a 1.2GHz processor and features both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The P-OLED watch face features Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and has a 320x320 resolution.Of course, much of your watch-buying decision will be made by the phone you own, as smart watches are still high-tech accessories for smartphones in many ways. It’s good to see the field begin to expand, though.