Why trust Greenbotdisappointed some early (or would-be early) Android ar adopters by announcing that the rounded Moto 360 wouldn’t be available alongside the first round of smartwatches this summer. But the wait is finally over: Motorola’s wearable device comes out in the United States Friday, September 5 at noon eastern time.
iced at $250, it’s the most expensive current Android ar device, but it’s also the most sophisticated, delivering a gorgeous circular screen—albeit with a bottom sliver blacked out—along with a refined build a rugged leather strap. Motorola hed out final hardware today at its announcement event in Chicago for the new Moto X Moto G, I’ve had a chance to wear the device for a few hours for a last pre-launch hs-on.
Elegant design
Both the Samsung Gear ve the G tch—the first two Android ar options on the market—look like, well, smartwatches. The square screens, plastic frames, rubber straps really sell the fact that you have an electronic device strapped to your wrist. But the Moto 360 goes in a different direction. Simply put: it looks like a real watch. And it feels like a real watch. The stainless steel circular design is fetching, with a real leather strap sourced out of Chicago.
Stainless steel, leather straps, minimal design—the Moto 360 is a looker.
After wearing it for a few hours, the Moto 360 feels pretty comfortable on the wrist is certainly sleek, but while the overall watch is lighter than its competitors, the core unit itself does feel a bit heavy, especially if it’s worn loose. Additionally, the leather strap is difficult to get out of the loops at first, but that should ease the more you take it off put it back on.
You might fight the straps at first, as they’re pretty stiff out of the box.
ile the pixels do reach right up to the edge of the circular frame, as advertised, the glass atop it is chamfered right before it meets the metal, which does make some of those outside pixels look a bit distorted from certain angles. It’s a strange effect, but hopefully not something that continues to grab your attention after a few days.
And as previously discovered, a small section at the bottom of the display is blocked off with a black, unusable strip of screen real estate, which Motorola says is necessary to house all of the components inside. ‘s upcoming G tch R promises a circular display with full use of the screen, but the trade-off is a sportswatch-like aesthetic a seemingly bulkier build. Initially, the blacked-out gap isn’t strongly noticeable in use—you won’t be paying much attention to the small part of the circle that doesn’t display when the rest of the image is so bright attractive.
Hardware perks
The Moto 360 uses stock Android ar, so aside from distinctive watch faces a few more pixels around the edges, the experience is largely the same as on other Android ar watches. ke the Gear ve, the Moto 360 features a heart rate monitor on the back of the watch, but it also allows you to track heart activity across the day or several days, with the watch pushing you to log at least 30 minutes of moderate activity during each 24-hour span.
Apps like lthecooks have Android ar support for on-the-wrist interactions. You can see how the chamfered glass distorts part of the image here.
Another hardware component, the wireless charging dock, proves completely effortless in use. There’s no specific contacts to line up: simply pop the watch vertically into the slot it’ll stay put with a light magnetic pull start charging, with the time battery charge displaying on the screen. It’s perfect for a bedside clock at night. th no charging port, the only external part of the Moto 360 build is the single physical button, which manually turns the display on off.
Charging the Moto 360 is a total breeze, it looks nice to boot.
The leather strap gives the Moto 360 a nicely understated look, but if you want something a bit more premium in design, Motorola revealed that a version with metal straps will follow later this year for $300 in light dark variations. And even if you can’t wait until then, the straps will also be sold separately for $80 apiece, so you can buy the watch now upgrade its look later. Additional leather bs will also come later for $30 a pop if you want to shake up the style.
A version of the Moto 360 with metal bs is coming later this year, although you can just buy the bs swap them out on the stard model.
The Moto 360 goes on sale in North America in a matter of hours, will initially be available at Motorola.com through Best Buy ay, with a wider international release still to come. Initial buyers will be able to choose from a limited edition grey leather version with a suede finish or a stard black leather version.
It has been the most anticipated Android ar watch thus far, my initial experience hasn’t generated any major reasons why it won’t live up to that excitement—but that could change after days of regular use. Be sure to check back for our full appraisal soon.
Updated on September 5 with a video report from News Service.
