The Moto 360 may have been depressingly absent from the I/O keynote this morning, but two other smartwatches have the honor of being the first devices to run Android Wear – the LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live.
While both devices share the same rectangular form factor, that’s where the similarities end. The G Watch’s display compromises resolution for slightly more screen real estate – a 1.65-inch LCD (280×280) versus the Gear Live’s 1.63-inch AMOLED (320 x 320). But the G Watch trumps the Gear Live in another area – battery capacity. It has a 400mAh, greater than the Gear Live’s 300mAh.
The dimensions of each device are quite different (the G Watch is 37.9 x 46.5 x 9.95mm and the Gear Live 37.9 x 56.4 x 8.9 mm), as are the sensors packed into each smartwatch: LG omitted a heart rate monitor, Samsung added one. But the rest of the hardware is fairly standard – Snapdragon 400 processors, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and IP67 dust and water resistant designs.
Sadly, neither will launch with metal wrist straps as an option – you’ll have to settle for colored plastic on both. The G Watch comes in White Gold and Black Titan, while the Gear Live comes in Black and Wine Red.
Both the Gear Live and G Watch will be available for pre-order on Google Play starting later today. The Gear Live will retail for $199 and ship July 7. The G Watch will retail for $229.
Specs
G Watch
- Chipset: Qualcomm®Snapdragon™ 400 processor
- Display: 1.65-inch LCD IPS (280 x 280)
- Memory: 4GB eMMC / 512MB RAM
- Battery: 400mAh
- Operating System: Android Wear (compatible with smartphones running Android 4.3 and above)
- Size: 37.9 x 46.5 x 9.95mm
- Weight: 63g
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0
- Sensors: 9-Axis (Gyro / Accelerometer / Compass)
- Color: White Gold/ Black Titan
- Others: Dust and Water Resistant (IP67)
Gear Live
- Display: 1.63” Super AMOLED (320 x 320)
- OS: Android Wear
- Processor: 1.2 GHz Processor
- Google Services: Google Now, Google Voice, Google Maps & Navigation, Gmail, Hangouts
- Additional Features: Notification (SMS, E-mail, etc.); Heart Rate Monitor; IP67 Dust and Water Resistant; Changeable Strap, Color Options: Black and Wine Red
- Connectivity: Bluetooth® v4.0 LE
- Sensor: Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass, Heart Rate
- Memory: RAM: 512MB; Storage: 4GB Internal Memory
- Dimension /Weight: 37.9 x 56.4 x 8.9 mm, 59g
- Battery: Standard Battery, Li-ion 300mAh
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