South Korea’s LG Electronics has beat out Google subsidiary Motorola to the punch with the G Watch smartwatch available for purchase. An early review is far from glowing, even with tech reviewer considering it is still the dawn of the wearable market and devices first to market face the most scrutiny.

VentureBeat’s Devindra Hardawar test-drove the $230 Android Wear powered G Watch and concluded it leaves significant room for improvement. The watch’s functionality revolves around syncing with an Android smartphone and pushing notifications to the wrist. Hardawar was thrilled that voice command features work well, allowing to dictate text messages and emails into the wrist. The activity-monitoring features were too pedestrian to him and failed to impress.

Overall, VentureBeat’s Hardawar was impressed with how fluid Android Wear’s user interface (UI) has become after years in development. It’s LG’s hardware that failed to impress the writer, who decries its “plastic and blocky design” and “too bulky” for daily wear. The watch’s 5-6 hour battery life is deemed too low, too.

Samsung’s Gear Live and the upcoming Motorola’s Moto 360 are simply better designed and even slightly cheaper than the G Watch, according to Hardawar, who also reviewed Gear Live and liked its “refined metal design,” screen and heart rate monitor.

There are significant limitations to Android Wear. With the G Watch in particular, the small screen is not useful to read full emails or check social media notifications. The VentureBeat reviewer said he was frustrated and ended up doing these tasks on his Android phone.

All hope is not lost, Hardawar concluded. The upcoming Moto 360 may be even better than LG and Samsung’s offerings, able to take its parent company’s Android Wear to new heights. Android Wear has the early edge in the wearable market, although the rumored Apple iWatch is widely seen as the bellwether of the nascent wearable market’s place in the mainstream.