Moto 360 is Here But Do You Want It? – Review

The Moto 360 has finally arrived, and just in time. This isn’t your typical smartwatch, but a finely crafted timepiece. While Android Wear provides the brains to this beauty, it’s the physical design of the Moto 360 that stands out in the crowded smartwatch marketplace. But, do you want it? Do you even need it? Our Moto 360 review has the answers.

Motorola has gone to great lengths to make the Moto 360 fit in with your lifestyle. Its design is refined and subtle, with a classic look. Although it has a robust software brain powering it, you don’t need to have a Motorola smartphone to use the Moto 360. Android Wear works across all Android devices and other wearables like the Samsung Gear Fit.

Ever since Motorola teased the launch of the Moto 360, we have been eagerly waiting to get our hands on it. This was the first watch, gasp, that looked like a real watch! And, for the ladies reading this, our Moto 360 review model didn’t look too obtrusive on your wrist—especially in comparison to the other Android Wear powered devices on the market at the moment. Furthermore, with the Horween leather band, traditional crown that operates as a power button, and circular face, it easily fits in with executive, casual, or evening wear. When the metal band version launches soon, it will kick up the style quotient a bit more.

Being a watch aficionado, I can’t help but notice the similarity between the Moto 360 and the Movado Bold–which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It helps make the Moto 360 resemble a pricey watch that even the non-techiest of tech consumers would be drawn to.

Aside from its handsome looks, Android Wear does unlock all of the cool features that come to life on the Moto 360. As a standalone watch, you can measure your steps and heart rate and flick and swipe through the selection of watch faces available to you. When we activated Bluetooth connectivity on our Android smartphone, our Moto 360 review model came alive with email notifications, calendar reminders, and the ability to do tasks via your phone. Can you have a conversation with just the Moto 360? No, but you can initiate a call by tapping the face of your watch and activating Google Search using your voice. There is no need to say “OK Google,” as the Moto 360 over time will learn your natural voice and tone.

The Android Wear app on your phone gives you control of what apps you would like to add to your phone or those that you want to silence. If you don’t want emails constantly flooding your wrist, just add them to the Mute list on Android Wear, and you never get those notifications again. But, if you want to install new apps to your Moto 360, you can browse the suggested apps and you will be surprised which ones have already taken on a circular design.

If you really love swiping on your Moto 360, then you’ll especially love the fact that you can swipe left or right to your hearts content on Tinder. Yup, Tinder is available as an app on Moto 360. While it isn’t exactly perfect, it is an interesting concept to flick through people looking for dates while staring at your watch. There is also the Allthecooks app which looks great on the Moto 360. Just open the app on your smartphone, and you can send recipes to your watch. Is it safe to keep looking at your watch while cooking? Well, it’s not any different than flipping a cookbook or a tablet, and this only requires a turn of the wrist. These are just some of the apps currently available for Android Wear on our Moto 360 review model, and we’re excited to see what other apps will pop up.

Verdict

Smartwatches are flooding the market, so it really takes a lot of effort to create something that stands high above the crowd. The Moto 360 does just that. Sure, the software could be a little more intuitive, but we anticipate that with future updates, those issues will be resolved, and that is really a small sacrifice for early adopters. In any case, more apps are coming, which means more unique ways to use your Moto 360.  I also love the look and feel of the watch on my wrist. Being a lady, wearing something that doesn’t feel like my wrist is falling off or that I’m wearing a brick is important to me. During the course of several days, I was able to wear my Moto 360 review model while washing my hands, doing my hair, and even flipping through my calendar. When I just wanted it to be a watch and a fitness tracker, I turned off the Bluetooth on my phone and I was just as happy with that setting. Can the Moto 360 compete with Apple’s Watch? Our Moto 360 review can’t answer that just yet, but we know that right now, the Moto 360 is our favorite smartwatch powered by Android Wear, and the most wrist-friendly one for women.

So, should you buy the Moto 360? If you’re an Android user—yes! It is without a doubt one of the best watches that behaves like a smartwatch on the market right now. The Moto 360, powered by Android Wear, is available now and retails for $249.99.

The Good: Looks great on your wrist, circular design and crown pay tribute to classic fine watches, apps have already taken on a circular look to match the Moto 360, Competitive pricing despite looking like an expensive timepiece, available with leather or metal wrist straps, very nice charging dock transforms the watch into a small bedside clock

The Bad: Battery drains pretty quickly depending on how much you have running—on average you can squeeze out just 12 hours, but not even that much with heavy use, software is not intuitive at times requiring you to dig around to swipe and locate items