The original Moto 360 helped put Android Wear on the map along w/ making smartwatches w/ round displays a thing.  So much that Samsung, Huawei, and LG have followed suit and no one is really making square-ish watches anymore save for ASUS & Apple.

Motorola is back or round 2 w/ a new-and-improved model as they improved on a few things and added a few new software features into the mix.  The new 2015 Moto 360 is more fashionable thanks to the addition to Moto Maker into the mix.  Time to see if it's really time for Motorola. 
 
We talk about the what's good, what's bad, and how it compares to last year's model.  This is our take on the 2015 edition of the Moto 360.  



Design

Like pretty much most of the new Moto 360, all of the changes are incremental at best.  At first glance, the 1st few things you'll notice is the addition of traditional watch lugs w/ quick release pins to swap out the bands like a normal watch.  As well as the physical button has moved from the 3 o' clock position to the 2 o'clock stance.  You still have the 'flat tire' so those of you wishing Motorola would ditch it, will have to get over it.  This is a way for Moto to keep the actual watch thin rather than being thick like the Huawei Watch.  Moto made the watch IP67, making it dust & water resistant.  

Display

I went for the smaller 42mm size which is same size as the new women's - don't ask why.  Whatever the case, it has a 1.37inch LCD display w/ a 360 x 325 resolution + 263ppi.  As opposed to the 1.65inch display w/ 320 x 290 resolution + 205ppi on the original watch.

Performance/Battery Life

Thank God Motorola stopped using those TI OMAP CPUs for their devices and went w/ Qualcomm.  Inside of the new 360 is a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 CPU which makes for an overall improved experience using it regularly.  You get a lot less lag & hiccups as you get a more smoother navigation w/ it.  

The 42mm model has a 300 mAh battery inside of this thing and it is a much better battery experience than last year's model.  Utilizing the Ambient mode, I was still able to get about 24 hours on a single charge.  I can go to sleep w/ it on and charge it in the late morning/early afternoon before heading to work w/o it completely dying.  With the previous model, it would have died before going to sleep.  If not definitely, dead before waking up.

Software

The new Moto 360 is sporting Android Wear 3.0, which was last seen for the more recent AW devices - including last year's Moto 360.  I'm not really fond of the latest Android Wear software.  Its cool but there is a lot to be desired for my personal tastes.  It excels in notifications and voice actions (like search, replies, etc.) but lacks in support for 3rd-party support. 

But I do love the Live Widgets Motorola watchfaces.  Its to the point, where I preferred not to really dig for a cooler looking face so I could utilize that.  One tap and you get a 4-day weather forecast w/ highs & lows, one tap for events for the day in calendar, and more.  Many of these software features have made its way to the older 360 but performs much better on the newer model.  

Moto 360 2015 review grade

Motorola did an amazing job w/ the hardware, but Google needs to step up Android Wear.

TG 2 Cents

Smartwatches are in a weird place right now.  There's an abundance of them out there on the market right now as they still don't have a real purpose.  This applies to all of them out there -even the Apple Watch.  Similar to when tablets 1st arrived on the scene.  

The new Moto 360 is a great example of beautiful refinement.  They've definitely learned a lot from their mistakes from their 1st smartwatch onto now.  Adding Moto Maker was an ideal move as it is definitely one of the reasons fans love Moto products.  Its hard to not like the new customizable & fashionable approach to a smartwatch.  I just want more from Android Wear.  For me, it requires too many swipes to get to certain menus.  The UI needs to be tightened up a bit.  Save for Live Dials watchface widgets & the improved fitness tracking via the new Moto Body app.  
 
Its a great smartwatch but its hard for previous Moto 360 users to justify the upgrade.  This will be a newcomers only recommendation.  

To Buy Or Not To Buy

Yeah you can make it look really nice & fashionable but starting at $300, you would have to really love Android Wear in its current state to justify the purchase.   

 



Categories: Review