LG Watch Sports: First Thoughts

I’d been using the Moto 360 2nd, but it had been nearly two years, so I figured it was time for a change. Then the LG Watch Sports came out, and I saw you couldn’t swap the strap, so I didn’t buy it.

Half a year went by and there was still nothing I liked. I figured, fine, if I can’t change the strap, then I just won’t change it…

When I went to order the LG Watch Sports on Google Play, the titanium version was out of stock, of course. Then one night I refreshed out of boredom and there it was.

Ordered it right away, and it turned out I’d picked the wrong payment method and paid $16 extra in shipping, even though the Google Play Store page said free shipping. I was worried it’d sell out so I didn’t look closely. The next day I saw the extra charge and asked Google for a refund. They said no…

So I said, fine, I’ll return it and order again. They said it had been more than two hours, so no returns…

I’ve got a few choice words for them that I’ll keep to myself.

So I chalked it up as a lesson learned. The surprise was that when it arrived via a forwarding service, there was no customs duty… I looked, and the customs declaration listed the thing as an “electronic watch.” Clever. I wonder if next time I forward a phone they could write “cordless telephone”…

A bit over a week in, I’m mostly satisfied. It’s a little big, but I’ve got big hands so whatever. It’s got everything: 4G, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS. Turning it all on drains the battery fast, though. Battery life sits somewhere between the first and second Moto 360, which is acceptable.

There are downsides. Long-pressing the crown opens Google Assistant, but if I bend my hand (which happens constantly when cycling) it triggers by accident…

Since it’s labeled Sports, it’s built around exercise. Running with the built-in GPS felt good, better than connecting over Bluetooth, and more accurate too. Personally I think a smartwatch has three main uses: telling time, seeing notifications, and tracking activity. LG’s own-brand watch does the exercise part really well. The catch is that GPS drains the battery fast, 15% gone in half an hour.

Overall it beat my expectations, and the build quality is excellent. The only shame is the fixed strap, but if you take care of it, it should be fine. Rubber doesn’t wear out that easily.

A smartwatch is a consumable anyway. It’s not a mechanical watch you keep forever, so if you can’t swap the strap, you can’t swap the strap.