Motorola launched their first Smartwatch with a round dial, enough to grab attention; it’s called the Moto 360. This watch runs Android Wear with 512MB RAM and 4GB internal storage. The 360 is priced at Rs. 17,999 in India.
Circular shaped Box Pack
Inside the box : 360 smartwatch, travel charger, user guide, warranty info and wireless charging dock.
Design
It is a Smartwatch but might look like any other ordinary watch. It follows the traditional round dial pattern. The watch body is stainless steel, the thickness is 11.76mm – for some it might look a bit odd. The Horween leather strap gives a very premium feel.
Build quality and finishing is excellent. This round watch also comes with a watch crown with push mechanism. Press and hold to start the watch for the first time and you can also press it once when the watch is switched on to return to the home (watch face) screen.
Moto 360 is IP67 certified – dust proof and water resistant.
Display
The backlit LCD screen is 1.56 inches supporting 320 x 290 pixels resolution (205ppi). The touch screen also comes with corning gorilla glass 3 protection. Viewing angles are good and touch is very smooth and responsive.
Though the watch face is circular a small area at the bottom is cut off. Probably some design limitations. The cut off area also houses the light sensor.
Hardware and Performance
This 360 watch is powered by 1GHz TI OMAP3630 processor. It runs Android Wear and makes use of Bluetooth 4.0 for communication. There are 2 microphones and voice input is supported, voice recognition is very good. You can tap the screen and speak or say the magic word ‘Ok Google’ to activate voice input.
‘Ok Google’ command did not work for the first time but after installing the update and resetting the watch it worked. There is 512MB RAM and 4GB internal storage. There are many Android Wear apps available on Google Play. For example you can download the calculator app and use the calculator on the watch.
Moto 360 also comes with built in optical heart rate sensor and pedometer. The heart rate sensor emits green light and will monitor your heart rate several times in a day. You can also manually check your heart rate anytime. The Pedometer will monitor the steps you have taken during your day to day activities.
There is no built in Speaker and all alerts are via vibration. Most of the work can be done by voice command, example ‘ok google’ find me a pizza, locate nearest gas station, take a note…. remind me at… show my steps.. heart rate, send text to, call ….. etc..
You can even get directions on the watch, it uses the smartphone’s GPS and data and shows the same on the watch.
The 360 will show notifications, you can read text messages, emails etc, see who is calling and accept / reject call. The watch will show you related information based on your locations and settings.
I did not encounter any issues with the performance.
Others
There is auto brightness option, keep it enabled for better battery backup. The screen is visible under direct sunlight. There is ambient screen option which when enabled will keep the watch screen on for most of the time. The screen however goes dim to conserve battery. It is better to keep this option off.
The screen will switch on when you tap once, or when you bring the watch in front of your face. The installation process is simple, you need to download android wear app on your smartphone and pair it with the watch.
Another exciting thing about the 360 or any android wear is the watch faces, there are some really good ones that came pre-loaded and you can download more from Google Play.
Battery
There is 320 mAh built in battery. The watch supports wireless charging. All you need to do is place the watch on the charging dock and it will charge. It takes about 1 hour 36 minutes to charge from 10% to 100%.
I have updated the software to the latest version. So far I am getting a comfortable 1 day as per my usage. I have disabled notifications for apps like Facebook, twitter and Gmail – I get a lot of notifications on these.
I have been using this watch for quite sometime (about a week). I easily get over a day of battery backup on a single charge. After few days of usage you will find the battery performing even better.
Verdict
The Moto 360 no doubt looks really premium and will grab attention. It is a bit pricy at Rs. 17,999 (18K) a price of under Rs. 15,000 would have done wonders.
Moto 360 is available for Rs. 17,990.
Moto 360 Image Gallery
Moto 360 video review
Alan
Some of the old style watches have a motion activated battery charger (swing your arms and the battery is recharging) Why don’t the ‘smart phones have similar tech or make the wristbands using a flexible solar cell layer for the same effect?
Better still, the body is a giant bio-electric battery isn’t it? Figure out how to get a charge from it to the device…(Matrix)