Moto 360 Watch All Features And Specifications

It's the best Android Wear watch, but that isn't saying much.

Hardware of Moto 360

The Moto 360's claim to fame is that it's the first Android Wear device with a round face. And that's a big deal. As I said, when it comes to an item that you wear on your person, it's crucial that it looks good. Compared to the other two Android Wear watches on the market, the Moto 360 looks the most like an actual timepiece partially due to that round design. Indeed, one of the reasons Motorola went with a circular design is that it believes a round face is simply more watch-like. Of course, there are traditional analog watches with square designs too, but the Moto 360's round face does make it stand out in a sea of square smart watches. Motorola made a conscious decision to make the Moto 360 more watch than gadget; more mainstream than early adopter; more SoHo than Silicon Valley.

Moto 360

That thought process included not just the shape of the watch, but also the materials used to make it. The housing is constructed from glass and stainless steel, and the leather strap is sourced from a high-end Chicago tannery. It's a smart watch that actually feels comfortable when worn; the leather feels much softer and more flexible than the rubber straps on the G Watch and the Gear Live. What's more, with the leather strap, the Moto 360 is also quite a bit lighter at 49 grams (the G Watch weighs 63; Gear Live, 59). In other words, the Moto 360 not only looks like a regular watch, but it also feels like one.

Moto 360

If you can't decide on just what color to get -- the initial watchbands come in black, dark gray or light gray -- the straps are thankfully interchangeable. However, do note that you'll need to visit a jeweler to swap them out and Motorola says the Moto 360 is only compatible with straps made specifically for it. Later this year, Motorola plans to release a Moto 360 with metal bands, which is more in-tune with the style of the thick metal housing. That brings me to one of my problems with the Moto 360. While I don't deny that the Moto 360 is well-crafted, its 46mm diameter and 11.5mm thickness paired with the leather bands make it much too big for me. I felt a little embarrassed to be wearing such an enormous, attention-grabbing timepiece, and my husband remarked that it looked like I had a hockey puck strapped to my wrist. During a tour of Motorola's headquarters recently, we were told that the Moto 360 was designed for both men and women apparently large watches are trendy accessories for some folks these days but I'm simply not one of them. Of course, this is based entirely on personal preference. And again, even though it's not to my taste, the Moto 360 is still one of the most striking smart watches I've seen yet.

Display of Moto 360

The primary reason for that is the circular display. It goes practically edge to edge with pixels spread across the entire surface, leaving a sliver of a bezel around it. The result is a watch face that's nearly all screen, which isn't something you can say about the Gear Live or the G Watch. That's a good thing, especially as the Moto 360's screen is a touch smaller at 1.56 inches across, resulting in a 320 x 290 resolution that translates to 205 pixels per inch. It's not the sharpest display by any means, but it's also not bad for such a tiny screen; it seems clear and colorful enough to me.

Moto 360

Unfortunately, there's a rather noticeable black slice at the bottom that mars the display's circular perfection. Motorola says that in order to maximize the screen size of a small and round display, it opted to house the watch's display drivers and ambient light sensor in that little wedge instead of creating a thick circular bezel. If that is indeed the trade-off, I agree that the edge-to-edge chamfered glass is a better option. But if you're even the slightest bit of a perfectionist, that tiny, little black slice might be difficult to un-see.

Features of Moto 360

That was a lot of words just about the watch's design. But seeing that most of the watch's features are the same as the other Android Wear devices Google isn't allowing manufacturer-specific skins the Moto 360's main differentiator is its design.

Moto 360

But if you'd like a brief recap, here's what Android Wear offers. Beyond just telling the time, Android Wear is a platform that transmits what's on your phone to what's on your wrist. If you allow it, you'll see everything from emails to Twitter notifications to Google Now cards popping up on the watch. There's some notification anxiety as a result -- having to scroll through all of those can be a pain, especially as you can't quite ignore them as easily as you might on a phone. As with the other Android Wear watches, you navigate through the Moto 360's interface by swiping and tapping on the watch's touch screen display. A key component is voice commands, where you can say things like "Navigate" to find directions or "Call a car" to request a Lyft ride.

Moto 360

Beyond Android Wear, the Moto 360 does have a couple extra features that bear mentioning. Remember that Motorola Connect app I alluded to earlier? That's also where you can track your steps and heart rate, because the Moto 360 not only has a built-in pedometer, but it also has a heart rate sensor as well (it's located on the underside of the watch). As with the Gear Live, you do need to hold your wrist relatively still for the sensor to read your beats per minute, but it only takes a few seconds.

Moto 360

Additionally, the Moto 360's heart rate app also comes with an activity monitor that tracks how active you are in a day. Once you enter in your vital stats (height, weight and so forth), the app will attempt to divvy up your daily heart activity into three categories: "Inactive," "Active" and "Vigorous." Motorola's goal here is for you to get at least 30 minutes of moderate activity a day for five days. As the Moto 360 periodically keeps an eye on your bpm, it'll know to notify you if you're almost or at your goal. From my experience with the Moto 360, achieving this 30-minute moderate activity goal is pretty easy just walking around the house and the local farmer's market got me to my goal before noon. Still, it's a noble enough objective and gives us the illusion that we're trying to be healthy.

Battery life And Performance of Moto 360

There's probably a subset of you that completely disregarded everything I've written above and came right down to this section. And I don't blame you. After all, what's the point of a watch that runs out of battery in the middle of the day? The problem, of course, is that the Moto 360 isn't a normal watch. Just like the other Android Wear devices, it comes with a rather dinky battery. The official specs state 320mAh, though a recent teardown reveals that the battery actually has "300mAh" printed on it. Motorola's official statement is that the battery offers a range of 300 to 320mAh, but opted to print just "300mAh" due to the lack of space.

Moto 360

Regardless of which it is, the battery is still tiny. Under heavy use, the Moto 360 barely lasts the day. With the ambient screen mode on, I had it so that it would notify me of every incoming email, message and notification from apps like Twitter, Facebook and Google Now. I also tried out a couple of different navigation routes and used voice commands several times throughout the day. In about 12 hours, the Moto 360's battery life dropped to 9 percent. It's not pretty, to say the least.

However, in the days after the initial thrill of playing with the Moto 360, I found myself hardly ever using the watch in such an active manner. I mostly just relied on it for timekeeping and notifications. I rarely bothered using it for voice commands or navigation, since, well, I could just use the phone for that. With this kind of minimal use, it got to around 23 percent after 12 hours, which is enough to last through a typical day. But if you're not going to use a smart watch as a smart watch, that kind of defeats the purpose of getting one. Plus, even with such skimping, I still had to charge the watch every night.

Moto 360

Under the hood, the Moto 360 has a TI OMAP3630 processor, which is surprisingly old technology we're talking the kind of chip used in the Droid 2. Yet, I didn't encounter too much sluggishnesswhen swiping through the menu or scrolling through messages. I did notice the occasional hiccup when trying to remove notifications sometimes it took a couple of swipe attempts instead of one but they were few and far between.

Wrap-up of Moto 360

Moto 360

With its stylish good looks, comfortable feel and overall premium build, the Moto 360 is the Android Wear watch to beat. All told, the smart watch landscape is so new that I'd recommend waiting to see if something better comes along. Sure, the Moto 360 is the best option right now, but it might be obsolete in just a few months. That said, if you want to jump on the Android Wear wagon now, the Moto 360 is your best bet.