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Moto 360 Review: First Look & Initial Impressions
The smartwatch EVERYBODY has been waiting for is HERE! Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Moto 360
Despite Samsung and LG’s best attempts, there is only one real player in the smartwatch space at the moment – Motorola. This could all be turned over in the space of one announcement from Apple, but as it stands those interested in getting a smartwatch –– and we’re still talking about a very small niche of people here –– only have one device in mind and that is the Moto 360.
Surprised? Yeah, we were at first too, but the resurgence of Motorola’s brand in consumer technology has been underway for nearly a year now, and in late 2014 the company is seriously looking to bolster these gains with the release of the new Moto X, the new Moto G and, of course, the smartwatch everybody is talking about, the Moto 360.
First, lets get the specs out of the way.
Moto 360 Specs
- Compatibility: Android 4.3 (or higher)
- Display: 1.5in 320 x 290, 205ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- Dimensions: 46 x 11mm, 49g
- Battery: 320mAh (with Qi wireless charging)
- CPU: TI OMAP 3
- Memory: 4GB storage, 512MB of RAM
- Sensors: Pedometer & Optical Heart Rate Monitor
- Water Resistance: IP67
Moto 360 Design
The great thing about the Moto 360 is that it’s not really a smartwatch in the 2014 sense of the word, as it doesn’t attempt to undo the centuries-long tradition of what humans call a wristwatch, but instead augments it for the future, keeping all the familiar core elements in place.
Nobody buys a watch to read emails on and nobody, if we’re being completely honest here, really asked for smartwatches; they sort of just happened late on in 2013 and now we’re all meant to care about them. But this just isn’t the case and a quick look at the sales figures for every smartwatch release to-date shows that consumers, for the most part, couldn’t give two s**ts about them.
To date, Samsung has released 12 smartwatches – that’s right, TWELVE – and so far none have caught on. Ditto for Sony and LG’s attempts. So, with all this in mind, how the hell can the Moto 360 do any better.
An iWatch for an iWatch-less World
People have been talking about the iWatch for a long time now but in true Apple style the company has remained mum on the subject, preferring instead to leave fan boys alone with their thoughts and fantasies about what could be, and it is here –– inside this void –– where I believe Motorola saw a BIG opportunity.
No one knows whether the iWatch exists. It might do, plenty of people seem to think it does, but then the same could be said for ancient aliens, Bigfoot, and the Queen being a shape-shifting lizard.
Nevertheless, this is all it usually takes for a product to form; a few ideas dotted here and there and BOOM, before you know it an IDEAL is established about something (in this case what the iWatch should look like) that has no real basis in reality. Only here, Motorola used it to its advantage and gave the world what Apple has for so long denied: a viable, good-looking smartwatch.
The Samsung Gear Live and LG G Watch are smartwatches in the true sense of the word, as they attempt to completely change the way people use their wristwatches with ZERO consideration for a few centuries’ worth of tradition and habit –– they demand too much, offer too little in the way of aesthetics and smack of faddish twattery.
The Moto 360 looks just like a watch. It has a round, 1.5in 320 x 290 pixel display and it features a premium leather strap. When you first put it on, the shape and weight of it feels familiar, reassuring almost… sort of like a real watch. And guess what: when you go to fasten it to your wrist for the first time it fastens just like a real watch too.
You see where I’m going here?
Motorola knew the whole smartwatch thing wasn’t a done deal; that it’d take a good long while for consumers to wake up to the idea of reading and replying to emails from their wrist, so rather than just making a smartwatch like Samsung and LG did, Motorola made an awesome timepiece that happens to double as a smartwatch.
Android Wear
The Moto 360 runs Google’s Android Wear platform and is operated either by tapping the display, saying, “Okay, Google…” or turning your wrist to look at the display. I’m not going to go into the nitty-gritty of Android Wear here; so for a full break down of all its features, short-comings and quirks, you might want to check out our Android Wear OS review.
There are quite a few apps now available for the platform (wrist-based Tinder, anyone? Oo-err missus) but at the end of the day Android Wear is Google’s show – it dictates everything. The platform itself is mere months-old and cannot yet be viewed as anything more than an experiment, so if you’re looking to buy a smartwatch right now do not –– I repeat do NOT –– expect miracles, or anything resembling the type of utility tech companies like to attach to these wrist-based contraptions.
Wireless Charging
Another big USP for the Moto 360 is how it charges. Unlike every other smartwatch we’ve tested this year, save for Qualcomm’s Toq, the Moto 360 utilises wireless Qi charging, means you don’t have to fanny about with those irksome, fiddly clip-on charging units that LG and Samsung are fond of. The Moto 360 even ships with a stylish little Qi charging stand.
I’m currently testing the Samsung Gear Live and have already lost the charging clip for it twice; this happened with the LG G Watch too, and the Samsung Gear 2. Why no other OEM thought to equip their smartwatch with Qi charging up to now is beyond me… clip-ons are just awful in every conceivable way. Once again, Kudos, Motorola!
Wrap Up: Would I Buy The Moto 360?
With all that said, though, I still desperately want the Moto 360… but not for its smartwatch features. Nope. That’s just an aside; I want one because my current timepiece is a tatty mess and I really, really like the look of the Moto 360 –– and I know I cannot be alone in this thought.
The ability to read my messages and emails and track my steps is just a bonus, a secondary component of an already very cool timepiece. Ahead of our full review my only real concern is battery performance; Motorola says it’ll DEFINITELY last a full day. I’m not convinced, however, after testing the LG G Watch, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Samsung Gear Live. The Moto 360’s battery is teeny so expecting it to go a couple of days is pretty much out the question.
Ah well, at least it’s sexy as hell.
Jonathan Morris provided the images (because KYM’s snapper was broke) for this first-look review, and you can check out his additional work and most recent blog posts over at JM Comms.
Reviews
Richard Goodwin
14:19, 8 Sep 2014