Reviews: LG Watch Urbane, Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 and Motorola Moto 360

Motorola Moto 360

LG Watch Urbane

Rs.29,990

The classic stainless steel round dial with the stitched leather strap gives it a look similar to luxury watches. You can put any 22mm watch strap on the Urbane. The 1.3-inch, full circle OLED screen is vivid—but there is no auto-brightness setting, for some reason. The watch can last 24 hours on a single charge. The crown on the side can be pressed to turn on the screen or activate OK Google voice commands, and a long press takes the user straight to apps and settings. Unlike most other smartwatches, the screen sits slightly lower than the dial, and you can feel the circular dial every time you swipe.

The only real problem with the Urbane is that the big dial will appeal only to the male demographic. Though expensive, this is the top Android watch at the moment, and the closest an Android watch has come to the Apple Watch.

Fujifilm Instax Wide 300

Rs.9,500

Using an 86x108mm film with an actual image area of 62x99mm, the photographs from this camera are just like those from widescreen smartphone cameras, or even the newer digital cameras—they are not a perfect square.

Measuring 3.8x7.4x4.8 inches, the camera tips the scales at 612g. There is an optical viewfinder for composing shots. Ideally, we would have liked this to be a bit bigger. The big handgrip is useful. It is powered by 4 AA batteries—if you are travelling, you might want to pack in an extra set. The prints of your images emerge from the top.

The Instax Wide 300 can click good photographs—the daytime shots look rich, with brightness, shadows and colours balanced well. Only once did we think that the cloudy sky seemed a bit overexposed in a landscape shot. In low light, the flash fires automatically. The images look well detailed, without any red-eye anamolies. Photographers who like to tweak settings manually will be disappointed though, because this camera doesn’t offer many settings that you can play with—it is meant more for clicking instantly.

The lens is a 114mm f/14 prime, and is similar to a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera. It can focus from 0.9-3m in normal mode; twist the dial for the landscape mode, and the focus can go from 3m to infinity. Fujifilm bundles a clip-on macro lens for better focus on closer objects. Basically, this camera works well for snapshots as well as when clicking landscapes.

The cost of the instant film is a downer though—there is only one pack option, with 20 films (that means 20 photographs), which costs Rs.1,150.

Motorola Moto 360

Rs.12,999

The Moto 360 has received a new lease of life with the Android Wear 5.1 update, which offers improved performance, better battery life and a bunch of new features that make it more usable. There is Wi-Fi support, which means the watch can use the paired Android phone’s Internet to run apps, update software, etc.

Thanks to the update, getting to apps in the Moto 360 is less cumbersome and the response from swipe gestures is more consistent. Battery life has improved as well—you can get through 18 hours, compared to the earlier 12 hours, before you need to charge it.

The universally acceptable design with the round, slim dial makes this a relevant smartwatch option, complemented by the comparatively affordable price.