I have an LG Watch Sport — ask me about it!

[mdw1995]

I'm a Project FI customer. Walked into an AT&T store to pick up the last LGWS they had in stock. They told me I could not purchase the watch without an active account with AT&T because they needed to assign the IMEI to an account number in order to sell the watch. Anyone have this issue or know if they can sell w/o an active AT&T account? Seemed strange they would turn down a full price purchase because I'm not a customer. Maybe an agreement with Google or...?

It's not required. There have been several people that have purchased the Sport at full retail without an AT&T account. I did the same when I purchased my Urbane 2 from an AT&T store without an account. You just have to find the right store because several will argue they can't so they can sell the plan.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidWear/comments/5u3g6a/how_are_people_buying_lg_watch_sports_from_att/

 

[mcragun]

I've got the Pixel XL. I am able to to bluetooth my watch to my phone as long as I don't turn on the ability to take phone calls on my watch. Once I do that, it seems to override the connection between my Pixel and SYNC.

 

[nellush88]

Any reason to buy the LGWS from Google over AT&T in regards to radio if looking to use on Project FI? Not sure if the info on radio frequencies has shown up anywhere yet. I know they have differing model numbers. Don't care about the blue one available from Google. I might go back to AT&T tonight, see if they will sell to me w/o an account. I'll try to be more convincing.

 

[mdw1995]

Any reason to buy the LGWS from Google over AT&T in regards to radio if looking to use on Project FI? Not sure if the info on radio frequencies has shown up anywhere yet. I know they have differing model numbers. Don't care about the blue one available from Google. I might go back to AT&T tonight, see if they will sell to me w/o an account. I'll try to be more convincing.

I've seen posts with successful use of project fi on the AT&T version. I don't know if there are differences compared to the Google version. Not enough 'confirmed' info available about the radios. I've also read the AT&T version works on Verizon which I don't think was the case for the Urbane 2. Makes me think the radios are the same in the Sport, regardless of what 'reps' might say.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProjectFi/comments/5tbt1b/lg_watch_sport_not_compatible_with_project_fi/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProjectFi/comments/5rl91m/project_fi_and_lte_smartwatches/

 

[croaker68]

Right now the lg v20 is half price, if you buy one you can get the lg sport watch for $49.

 

[nellush88]

Yup, walked into a different store and bought a LGWS without the salesman telling me I had to add to a current account. Salesman was very vocal that there was no point in buying the sport if I didn't get the AT&T service to go with it. He also cautioned me that it would have ATT software installed (which it doesn't as far as I can tell) and that it would only work with ATT. I am only interested in having LTE data available on occasion with Project Fi. I have a data only SIM slated to deliver on Saturday and will pop it in. I did try my Pixel Project Fi SIM last night and data worked fine. Didn't try phone but don't expect that it would work and don't need it to. I might try later today to confirm.

I will have a better idea of battery life after a couple days. Weight/size of the watch is lighter/small than I thought after reading lots of forums and reviews. Maybe I am accustom to a heavier watch, typically wearing a Bulova Chronograph. I did wear it to bed last night, alarm function with phone is great. Believe I only lost maybe 10% over 6 hrs of sleep, only BT on (no wifi, no lte, no apps pulling gps location, no "Always-On screen").

I've had the watch less than 24hrs, but am very happy so far. Nice upgrade from an original Pebble, which I still love.

 

[nellush88]

I put my Pixel Project FI SIM back in the LGWS again tonight and was able to accept a phone call over LTE. Call quality was great. Again, not interested in using this and have a data only sim on the way, but voice call did work on the watch with a Project FI SIM. I bought the LGWS at AT&T.

 

[samueldruker]

Yes! Would love to find an extra charger (WCD-H100) to keep at my office... does anyone know of where to get one?

Yes, please. I have searched high and low (even LG service replacement parts web site) and can't find one.

 

[roerisi]

Hello friends I love this smartwatch, I live in Italy, you can help me find a way to buy it,please???

 

[hubick]

Hi.

I'd like a smartwatch which allows me to easily control the music playback on my phone while exercising (unicycling, inline skating, etc).

I bought a Gear S3 for the rotating bezel, which was great for this purpose, except the music app wouldn't stay running, and you'd have to wake up the watch and re-launch the app every time you wanted to change songs. The only workaround seemed to be to use an app to keep the watch awake with the screen on all the time, which would kill the battery and eventually burn in the screen, so I returned it.

I heard Android Wear 2.0 may not have this problem, and can keep it's music app to always be immediately accessible when you interact with the watch?

I'm still not good enough on my unicycle that swiping and tapping while riding on rough dirt trails is easy for me, so I was interested in a watch which has some additional hardware buttons which could be programmed for easily navigating my music to the next/previous track. Can the LGWS buttons be used like that out of the box? If not supported natively, is there something like Tasker which could be configured to do something (transcode key events?) like this? At the very worst, I'm guessing it might be possible to write an app to accomplish it?

It would be super cool if you could also use the rotating crown for volume while the music app is running, though I feel that might be asking a lot

Much Thanks for the info!

 

[phxXD]

Yes. I have a very bizarre question to ask. What is the battery life with pretty much LTE only being on? Here's the hypothetical scenario to add context.

I'm thinking about using this as a wrist phone essentially. I have an iPhone if I need it for the initial setup but my plan is to use the watch as a Lone Ranger and my iPhone will become a glorified tablet when I'm at home. I've considered having a Bluetooth headset for phone calls but I haven't talked myself into that. I rarely use the phone. I nearly exclusively text.

Whether Bluetooth is on or not is up for debate but since it has LTE there'd be no need for me to have WiFi on. GPS will likely remain off except when I'd need to use Google Maps for directions. I'd also have NFC off and a conservative screen brightness. I may have the always on screen on for a persistent watch face but I'd definitely have the motion turned off because I won't need raise to wake to see the time. I can press a button if I need to interact further.

All of this is trivial though. As baseline I'm more interested in knowing the battery life with only LTE on and nothing else. I can always add and remove stuff to experiment but I'm looking to use this as a glorified text messaging device with light phone usage and occasional - very occasional- map functionality. I know the battery suffers from LTE but it's always in the context with everything else on too. Does it have more legs with LTE only and the other radios off? If someone can perform that experiment I'd be grateful.

 

[phxXD]

I actually like typing text messages on smart watches. I've done so on the first two Microsoft Band and I enjoyed Scribble on Apple Watch. It may be slower per say but it's less frustrating because there's less autocorrect errors so there is fewer potential for nightmare fuel. The idea of going with just a watch for texting is very appealing. I know it's clunky but so were the first cell phones. There's always a penalty of some kind for early adopters.

 

[hagar852]

Yes. I have a very bizarre question to ask. What is the battery life with pretty much LTE only being on? Here's the hypothetical scenario to add context.

I'm thinking about using this as a wrist phone essentially. I have an iPhone if I need it for the initial setup but my plan is to use the watch as a Lone Ranger and my iPhone will become a glorified tablet when I'm at home. I've considered having a Bluetooth headset for phone calls but I haven't talked myself into that. I rarely use the phone. I nearly exclusively text.

Whether Bluetooth is on or not is up for debate but since it has LTE there'd be no need for me to have WiFi on. GPS will likely remain off except when I'd need to use Google Maps for directions. I'd also have NFC off and a conservative screen brightness. I may have the always on screen on for a persistent watch face but I'd definitely have the motion turned off because I won't need raise to wake to see the time. I can press a button if I need to interact further.

All of this is trivial though. As baseline I'm more interested in knowing the battery life with only LTE on and nothing else. I can always add and remove stuff to experiment but I'm looking to use this as a glorified text messaging device with light phone usage and occasional - very occasional- map functionality. I know the battery suffers from LTE but it's always in the context with everything else on too. Does it have more legs with LTE only and the other radios off? If someone can perform that experiment I'd be grateful.

Look at the recent battery thread I posted. There is a video of a user who tested just that. ??????

 

[phxXD]

I just saw that before your reply. 12-hours. I can work with that.

 

[afblangley]

Yes. I have a very bizarre question to ask. What is the battery life with pretty much LTE only being on? Here's the hypothetical scenario to add context.

I'm thinking about using this as a wrist phone essentially. I have an iPhone if I need it for the initial setup but my plan is to use the watch as a Lone Ranger and my iPhone will become a glorified tablet when I'm at home.

You've described my use case scenario. I stopped carrying around a smartphone, my watch (Gear S3) is my phone. I keep an LTE tablet close at hand for tasks requiring a larger screen. I use Google Voice so all calls and messages are available across my numerous devices. This eliminates the need for a BT connection or (potentially battery draining) services like Digits or NumberSync.

The Gear S3 has greater functionality when remotely connected than in true standalone mode. I believe that is also the case with AW watches. So I keep a cheap Android phone permanently docked on my home WiFi, with the sole function of remotely connecting to the watch. There are other advantages to this setup, but in the interest of brevity I'll stay on topic.

On the watch, the LTE radio is always on, along with ambient watchface display. I typically receive 30-45 notifications and spend 15-30 minutes talking on it. I have activity tracking enabled, hourly weather updates, NFC for payments (~2-4 daily). I routinely get 18 hours with about 15% of battery left. Having long conversations using a BT headset will drain the battery quickly. Areas/buildings with poor reception that cause it to constantly search for a signal will also drain it quickly.

I'm following this forum because I anticipate getting an AW watch. I have no first hand experience with the LG Sport, but from reports, I don't think it's well suited to be a primary phone. Right now, I think the best watch for that use case scenario is the Gear S3. I expect that to change sometime this year, and when it does, I'll be the first to switch.

 

[ryanovelo]

All - Just picked up the watch off eBay. It is the Google Store version. I took it to Verizon to get everything setup.

Here are my issues:

1. Watch has LTE but no voice or text. Apparently the SIM was from a tablet and is a "hot line" for voice which means it is blocked from having voice services - only data. I'm being told by tech support that I need a former phone SIM NOT a tablet SIM. I have LTE data so the watch will function without bluetooth or wifi. Just no texts or calls. Probably because of the below issue as well.
2. How the hell do I get message+ installed on the watch? This app is the only way the phone will work with Verizon. Everyone says just install it. It is NOT on the store on the Google version of the watch. I have it on my phone but cannot find out how to install on the watch.
3. Android Pay - Android Pay will not set up under any circumstances. I have a card on file in Google Wallet but it says I have no cards on file. If I click "add card" it disconnects me from my phone and says "no connection". A few times I have gotten it to say "finish setup from your phone" after clicking "add a card" but nothing EVER comes up on my phone. WTF?

Any help from the experts on here would be greatly appreciated. I love the watch. Perfect size, great screen, quick. Just need to get Android Pay and LTE voice/text up and running.

 

[Wastega]

Hi Andrew,

Thank you for the detailed review! I am interested in purchasing the lg sport watch mainly for the strength training features. I read somewhere that it can recognize 33 exercises but I can't find anywhere which ones. Since I mainly use free weights I would'nt want to buy something that is mainly focused on bodyweight exercises..

Any help will be much appreciated!

 

[DaDoc04]

I use it for weightlifting and while it does find some, i manually input some of my workouts.

You can enter any name you want and save it as an entry if it didn't auto detect...

 

[scaots]

When not on cellular (for number sync or whatever) and not connected to phone for BT audio, do you still get phone call notification? That is one of the things driving me nuts on Urbane 2nd edition LTE is not getting notification of one of the most important phone functions.

 

[skeeter123]

Are you getting consistent vibrations for SMS notifications? I'm not. Even with the "Feel the Wear" app...