LG showed off it's next smartwatch to those at IFA this week, and Android Wear's first circular smartwatch seems to have made some good impressions so far. The G Watch R is the follow-up to LG and Android Wear's first device, the LG G Watch (someone creative needs to start naming these watches, by the way), and looks to improve where its predecessor left reviewers and users underwhelmed, mainly in the design department. By crafting a smartwatch that actually resembles a rugged sports watch, LG just might convince more watch fans that the G Watch R can provide a classic watch experience while also providing useful information from users' mobile devices. 

LG basically considers the original G Watch a proof of concept and doesn't appear interested in really pushing device now that the G Watch R is here. And you can't blame them, because the original G Watch was just an uninteresting black square. This time, LG appears to be making this next smartwatch much more like a regular watch in terms of how it looks and what you can do with it. Starting with the strap, LG has made the G Watch R compatible with any standard 22mm watchband, so that means you'll have a lot of options should you choose to replace the original strap.

The G Watch R also sports a big metal bezel that surrounds its 1.3-inch display, and the reason for that is twofold: it was necessary to fit the screen and its components in a frame that size, and also so the device could be waterproofed. 

As far as user experience goes, the LG G Watch R runs the current version of Android Wear, so there shouldn't be any apparent variation on how the device functions in and of itself.

No word yet on exact pricing or when we can expect the device to go on sale, but look for these details to be released by LG in the following weeks. 

As far as specs, LG has confirmed that the G Watch R has a 1.3-inch OLED screen, 512MB of RAM, a Qualcomm processor and a 410mAh battery. A heart rate monitor and barometer are also built-in to the device. 

LG showed off two different models of the G Watch R at IFA: a black model and another steel-looking model. According to the Verge, the brushed steel model is currently "for LG's internal use," only.