So I picked up the new version of this watch released on 3/30 and have been using it with it for a week. The first version from last Fall was recalled by LG due to hardware concerns. Here are my initial thoughts on the watch:
Looks. The watch is large on the wrist and thick, but beautiful. I have smaller wrists and it doesn't look too large. It will not fit under the cuff of most of my dress shirts. I can live with that since it's a nice looking watch.
Hardware. The watch is well made and the casing is metal. The watch is only IP67 vs the Gear S2 3g, which is IP68, so don't go jumping into the water with this. The screen is very good (both colors and resolution), but there is no auto brightness which is annoying. The buttons cannot be reassigned as of right now so you're stuck with contacts, home, and LG health (top to bottom respectively).
Software. This is android 6.0.1. If you buy this do so for the ability to wear the watch as a standalone and leave your phone at home. So far, this watch proves closer to being able to do that than the Gear S2 3g. Here's why.. first off, the Android wear "ok google" is WAY better than "S voice" on the Gear S2. You can ask just about any question and it will give you an answer, albeit an abbreviated one if you ask technical questions. However, in order to leave your phone at home you basically want to be able to get/make calls, texts, emails, and also ask for hours, numbers and directions of businesses. The Urbane does all of this just fine with one caveat - it doesn't always connect to the server when being used as a standalone. Sometimes when asking Google to do something, you'll just see the spinning Google circle and it will then say retrying and ultimately say cannot connect or disconnected. Again this only happens on standalone cellular mode and happens intermittently. There seems to be a relationship to quality of the cellular signal strength on the watch to if the google search feature works. Perhaps most importantly, the phone calls and texts have always worked for me. One more thing aboiut android wear that I am not a fan of is that there is no dedicated email application that allows you to see your entire inbox and read entire email contents. This is a drawback if you want to really do any email work on your watch. The Gear S2 is much better in this respect, having standalone watch apps for both texts and emails. I guess you can't have it all... yet!
GPS. I wanted to comment on this because of how important this is. It works by golly! The watch GPS on the Gear S2 is terrible, but it appears to be working on the Urbane so long as you are outdoors AND you leave your phone on even if it is not with you. Remember GPS is powered by satellites, so being outdoors really helps with your position being detected. So in standalone mode, you'll want to be outside, but it will locate you if you are. If you want navigation to work, your phone has to be on, but the watch does not have to be connected. They seem to communicate with one another remotely through your data to the turn by turn data. The Google maps WILL work on the watch by itself wit your phone turned off. Ultimately, the navigation part of maps appears to be somewhat dependent on your phone.
Phone calls. The watch works well for making and taking calls. The built in speaker is plenty loud enough and the other person can hear me ok. Keep in mind you need to be in a fairly quiet location to have an enjoyable experience here. The watch phone does work with Bluetooth headsets if you don't want to look like Dick Tracy talking to your watch.
Battery life. I'm still testing this out but so far so good when you keep in mind these are watches and have small batteries. Having said this, the Urbane has a 570 mAh battery vs the Gear S2 with only 300mAh. The Urbane and android wear consume more battery than Gear S2 and Tizen. Specs say you'll get 24 hours (on Bluetooth connected), but don't plan on getting that with standalone cellular. I'm testing that still and so far I'm on par for maybe reaching 8 hours with light to moderate use. Meh, still not great but about the same as the Gear s2.
Early verdict. If google and LG can fix the intermittent issues with the "ok google" not connecting to the server in standalone mode then this watch would get a solid recommend from me. The goal is to leave the phone at home and feel confident that your Urbane can make/take calls, texts, emails, lookup businesses, movie times, find directions, navigate and answer basic questions. With the few hiccups of this not connecting despite showing solid network reception has me giving this watch a lukewarm reception. Regardless, it is a keeper and the best smartwatch on the market in my opinion... and It'd better be for the price.
You can read my similarly detailed review of the Gear S2 3G on that product page if you want to compare the other smartwatch with cellular conectivitiy. Yes I am a geek and own both.