LG to Unveil at MWC New Flagship Version of the Watch Urbane with LTE and NFC-Based Payment Capabilities

Weeks after unveiling the high-end Watch Urbane timepiece, LG announced that it will next be showcasing an LTE version of the smart wearable device, appropriately dubbed 'Watch Urbane LTE,' at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) on March 2-5 in Barcelona, Spain.

Aside from the fact that the Watch Urbane LTE will come with an LTE radio that will allow you to make calls over VoLTE, it will reportedly also have the capability to carry out NFC-based mobile payments, much like the Apple Watch. Moreover, the upcoming LG flagship will also continue to support GPS location sharing, foreign speech translation, as well as walkie-talkie-style voice chats like the earlier non-LTE version.

According to Android Central, the Watch Urbane LTE features the same 1.3-inch plastic OLED display and 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 CPU as its non-LTE variant, but with the RAM doubled to 1GB. Internal storage is the same at 4GB. The 9-axis sensors (gyro / acceleration / compass) as well as the barometric pressure sensor, heart rate sensor and GPS are retained, with the watch scoring the aforementioned LTE and NFC connectivity. A noticeable difference between the two variants is that the LTE model features three buttons on the side whereas the standard Watch Urbane features a single button, with LG stating that the extra buttons are for navigation and easy access to quick settings. The battery has been boosted to 700mAh, or almost double that of the 410mAh sported by the Watch Urbane. LG says that the watch will be offered in silver trim.

While the stainless steel Watch Urbane will work with Android phones, the upcoming version has LTE connectivity of its own, making it the first LTE smartwatch in the world wherein you can talk over VoLTE without the need for a phone, allowing you leave your handset at home. Plus, it has a "walkie-talkie" feature that can let multiple people speak at once. It comes with an emergency speed-dial feature that lets you make calls just by pressing a button on the smartwatch.

LG has not yet made any announcement as to when the Watch Urbane LTE will be publicly available.