Motorola Moto 360 Review: A Worthy Second Act
The Moto 360, Motorola's second-generation Android Wear smartwatch, makes exactly the right set of improvements.
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The new Motorola Moto 360 is dramatically better than last year's model. The wearable is improved in nearly every way, and delivers more of the core experience consumers seek from their smartwatches.
Motorola debuted the Moto 360 in early September and began taking orders for the wearable by mid-month. With the 2015 Moto 360, Motorola is allowing people to customize the features and appearance of the smartwatch through its Moto Maker web site. This is a fantastic tool that allows consumers to create the smartwatch of their dreams -- so long as they have some patience.
With that in mind, let's take a deeper dive into the Moto 360 smartwatch.
First, Motorola allowed me to design my own review unit, so I went with a classic stainless steel look. To start, the screen is available on two different sizes: 42mm or 46mm. I opted for the 46mm screen. The body of the watch, chamfer, and band are all stainless steel in the review unit I created.
Motorola offers other options. For example, there are brown and black leather straps, as well as black and gold stainless steel bands. Similarly, the body of the watch can be stainless, black, or gold, as can the chamfer around the watch screen. This mix allows for plenty of variety in the design, though it is limited to more conservative styles and doesn't yet have sporty or colorful bands. (The Moto 360 Sport goes on sale later this year.)
[ Considering a new iPhone instead? Read iPhone 6s Plus Hands-On: 10 Best Features. ]
As much fun as it was to design the Moto 360, waiting for it was less so. I placed the order on Sept. 9 and received a confirmation email right away. Motorola gave me an expected delivery date of Oct. 2. I received no communication from Motorola for two full weeks. When I did hear from Motorola, it was to explain my watch was finally being assembled. Another week passed and I received an apology email from Motorola to say it was having difficulty assembling the watch and that its arrival would be delayed until Oct. 9.
Looking at Moto Maker today, it appears the stainless steel bands are popular among those ordering the watch: they are all sold out and can't be selected when customizing the Moto 360. It seems to me Motorola could be doing a better job with the design-you-own process.
If you don't care to design your own watch and want one right away, select pre-configured styles (with leather straps) are available from Amazon.com and Best Buy.
Now that I have the smartwatch, I looked at several different aspects of the device, including the hardware, storage, connectivity, the operating system, and how the Moto 360 helps with keeping track of fitness and health. Here's what I found.
What's not to like about stainless steel? The Moto 360 is a pleasing wearable in terms of design and quality. With a 46mm display, it's a large watch in terms of diameter. It's also fairly thick (11.4mm), and the all-metal design I selected is certainly heavy. I'm fine with that.
Last year's Moto 360 had a fussy, custom strap connector that could only be altered by professionals. This year's wearable switches to standard pins, which means owners can swap straps whenever they choose. That's a welcome change.
The stainless steel band installed on the watch was too small for my wrist, but it came with three extra links. I had to take the watch to a local watch shop in order to have the band adjusted appropriately for fit. I don't care for the clasp very much; it pops open too easily.
The 360 has one, large button at about the two o'clock position on the right side. I'm a lefty and wear watches on my right wrist, so I have to reach across the screen to press the button. Unlike the Apple Watch, the Moto 360 cannot be worn upside down on the right wrist.
The Moto 360 is an attractive smartwatch and, once adjusted to fit, is as comfortable and usable as any watch is to a lefty.
This is where the Moto 360 really shines. The 1.56-inch LCD display is 360 X 330 pixels and looks great. It shines brightly when outdoors and is usable anywhere you might need to view it. I do wish Motorola offered a fully circular screen, however: there's a small horizontal black bar at the bottom of the display. Motorola's competitors LG, Huawei, and Samsung have all created completely round screens without trouble.
The most dramatic improvement for the Moto 360 is battery life. The 46mm size has a 400mAh battery. Motorola said it's good for a full day of mixed use with the screen on and two days with the screen off. I'd call these estimates accurate. With the screen on, I was able to use the Moto 360 for a full day without issue. It often had plenty of power left at the end of the day. With the screen off, it easily lasts two days, if not more. (The 42mm size has a 300mAh power source that Motorola said provides about the equivalent amount of battery life.) The 2014 Moto 360's battery life was terrible and often died in fewer than 8 hours.
One thing carried over from last year's device is the processor/memory/storage setup. The watch has a 1.2-GHz Snapdragon 400 chip with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of storage. It is speedy enough to run apps, and I didn't see sluggish performance at any point. I do wish more storage were available, but 4 GB leaves enough room for apps and some music.
The Moto 360 has Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy and Wi-Fi but not GPS, which is reserved for the Sport model. The watch connected to smartphones easily via Bluetooth, but I found the Moto 360 to be finicky when it came to Wi-Fi networks. The bevy of internal sensors all did their jobs superbly. For example, I was pleased with how accurate the watch was at counting steps throughout the day. The heart rate monitor is a helpful addition, though it takes some time to train properly.
Android Wear 1.3 is a significant improvement over the original Android Wear platform. It is more intuitive to use, and the app launcher is a crucial addition in order to improve app accessibility. The Moto 360 delivered incoming call, message, and email alerts seamlessly, and I was able to answer/respond via voice commands and dictated messages.
The Moto Body app is preinstalled and is meant to help people monitor their health throughout the day. It keeps tabs on your steps, as well as your general activity levels and whether you've gotten your heart rate up high enough. The one downside of this app is that it requires you to wear the watch as much as possible.
The 2015 Moto 360 is a solid smartwatch and easily one of the best options available to Android fanatics. It is more customizable than last year's model, and the added battery life alone is reason enough to upgrade. It's also a better value than some competing devices. Pricing for the leather model starts at $299, but you can push the cost up to $429 if you go with stainless steel bands and the larger screen size. The Huawei Watch, by comparison, starts at $399 and goes up to $799 for some options. Moreover, the Android Wear platform is compatible with far more apps than Samsung's Tizen-based Gear S2 wearable.
If you've been on the fence about smartwatches and are looking for something to handle the basics and look good doing it, the Moto 360 is a great wearable with which to start.
The 2015 Moto 360 is a solid smartwatch and easily one of the best options available to Android fanatics. It is more customizable than last year's model, and the added battery life alone is reason enough to upgrade. It's also a better value than some competing devices. Pricing for the leather model starts at $299, but you can push the cost up to $429 if you go with stainless steel bands and the larger screen size. The Huawei Watch, by comparison, starts at $399 and goes up to $799 for some options. Moreover, the Android Wear platform is compatible with far more apps than Samsung's Tizen-based Gear S2 wearable.
If you've been on the fence about smartwatches and are looking for something to handle the basics and look good doing it, the Moto 360 is a great wearable with which to start.
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