The LG W7 watch is a USD 450 hybrid Wear OS smart watch with mechanical hands.

In addition to the V40 ThinQ, LG announces today its latest smartwatch. The W7 Watch is undoubtedly the company's most unique notebook because of its hybrid design. The W7 has mechanical hands in front of its 1.2 inch round touch screen running Wear OS. (You will not be able to easily read LG's press images, but I'll have some handy photos later in the day.) The sale price will be $ 450 at Best Buy starting October 14th; pre-orders will be available on October 7th.

As mechanical watches are a bit out of his wheelhouse, LG has collaborated with a company called Soprod to design the mechanical functions and movements of the watch. "In addition to keeping the time accurate, the mechanical hands also display additional information such as the altimeter, barometer, stopwatch, timer and compass indications," LG said. As a smartwatch, the W7 Watch will last up to two days. But these mechanical needles can continue to run for up to 100 days – long after turning off the screen – in standby mode only. The W7 has a button and two buttons on the right side. It uses standard 22mm watch straps for easy exchange.

LG

The W7 does not replace a fitness monitor; there is no heart rate sensor inside this material. It also does not have built-in GPS or LTE connectivity. This is a wear-free OS device that puts the shape of a traditional watch over an extended feature. I could excuse, but the W7 also lacks NFC and therefore does not even support Google Pay. For $ 450, LG chose to omit a long list of unacceptable things. The watch's glass is not sapphire, if you ask.

LG

LG is stuck with the old Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset for the Watch W7 and does not use the new 3100 platform, which includes a coprocessor to extend the battery life and standby. The use of the latter might have lengthened the life of the battery, but given the bare device from the point of view of Wear OS, I'm not surprised that LG did not bother him.

So, with the W7, you really spend money for its hybrid design, its traditional aesthetic and its stainless steel case. And remember that Wear OS has recently been updated with a simpler and more intuitive software experience. Are these elements enough to get you away from a cheaper Wear OS watch from Fossil or from a Fitbit Versa?