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We couldn’t wait to get our hands on the Moto 360 following Motorola’s big event in Chicago yesterday, and we were just as anxious to give you all a close look at it. We were fortunate enough to receive a retail copy to unbox for you folks so you can see what you’d be getting into should you purchase one for yourself.
The packaging of the Moto 360 is quite symbolic in that it’s circular, no doubt a move Motorola made to highlight the watch’s circular form factor. It’s the first smart watch we’ve seen of its kind and it certainly does stand out against its squarish competitors. The device’s stainless steel exterior is the first thing that jumps out at you — something about that shimmer that you can’t quite get from other materials.
Also adding to that premium look and feel is genuine leather provided by Horween, the same brand that’s going on the back of the new leather-backed Moto X. The model we received was black with black leather straps, but you can also get it in silver with gray leather. It makes for a much nicer touch than that of, say, the cheap rubbery material used on the LG G Watch. None of it looks as good as the premium versions with metal bands Motorola’s planning to sell for $300 later this year, of course, but it still looks quite nice.
One thing you’ll notice right away is that the thing is light — so much so that you would probably forget it’s on your wrist throughout the day. “Light” is typically associated with “cheap and flimsy” in the smartphone world, but it’s a trait that you’ll definitely want on your smart watch. Doesn’t matter how good a watch looks on your wrist if it’s weighing you down all day.
Motorola provides a wireless charging cradle in the box so you can prop the smart watch up on your nightstand and have it charging — say hello to your favorite new desk clock. There are no external charging pins to be had. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to you to decide, but we’re sure glad folks won’t have to deal with cumbersome clasps and copper that could be susceptible to corrosion. The charger Motorola gives you a wall outlet to microUSB setup. Unfortunately the cable doesn’t detach from the adapter so you’ll need to use an actual USB cable if there’s no wall outlet present.
On board is standard Android Wear, and that piece of software is being powered by 512MB of RAM and a TI OMAP 3 processor. All of it is displayed on a round 1.56-inch display with 320 x 290 resolution, and it should last up to a full 24 hours with its 320mAh battery. It remains to be seen whether the TI OMAP chipset can keep up with the Snapdragon 400 found in competing models, but considering you don’t need a ton of power for a smart watch we’re not too concerned.
We’ll be getting our hands dirty with this thing in the days to come so expect a pretty full plate of coverage. In the meantime the unboxing video above should satiate your appetite (unless, of course, you decide you can’t wait and go out to buy one for yourself as early as today).
It’s just the battery life that turned my feelings around for this…..I bet you, once someone tears down the Moto 360 it probably will have space to add about 10-30 percent more battery……
I don’t even want this anymore. Asus Zen looks more appealing now.
My fiance was making light fun of me (mutual fun) for being an “Asus Fanboy”. ASUS Phone, laptop, desktop motherboard… Now want an ASUS Zen Watch…
Asus makes good products. I have a desktop motherboard and the Nexus 7 with no complaints at all.
Me neither. My mom owns 4 Nexus 7’s between her and my brothers. I love my N56V notebook to death (2 years old and still going full tilt!). My PadFone X has proven somewhat of a headache, but it’s still the best Android device I’ve ever played with. My desktop’s motherboard is now 3 years old and just fine.
When I think of Asus I think of: Solid and affordable products. My motherboard is 5 yrs old and it still produces. They have a good record
And great warranty support! They’ve got a representative posting to help out with the PadFone over at XDA!
I like asus and really was hoping to get their smartwatch but it is ugly.
now all you need is an Asus router!
The battery made my heart frown :(
With how enormous this thing is they couldn’t fit a bigger battery in there? :p Hell, the LG is smaller in area and has more battery.
I still think it’s the best looking watch but honestly not getting one until someone makes a nice looking round watch with an always on screen and enough battery to make it last at least a full day. Having a screen off watch looks so stupid, IMO.
I echo @Tony T.:disqus ‘s sentiments. Good looking watch, but it MUST at least maintain a watch face all the time- whether that’s through some combo e-ink/lcd tech, or some other way. If it turns off so I can’t tell the time on my $250 watch it’s a no go. Battery needs to be in the 5-7 day range. By general consensus the moto 360 seems to be the best of the current breed which for me means I’ll be waiting for the next gen to see how things progress…
“last up to a full 24 hours”.. wow a “full” 24 hours.. wow… bwaa ha ha this is going to die on peoples wrists all the time.
Yea it doesn’t help that it uses an absurdly outdated 45nm SoC which I don’t even know how they fit in there.
ARM SoC really aren’t that big to begin with, being pretty close to the size of an American 10 cent coin, so it wouldn’t really be that much of stretch to fit one in to a watch like this.
I think that amount is more truthful than the 2-3 days other’s are claiming. Like this amount is based on heavy usage. If you use a phone heavily, like youtubing, playing games, Netflix, it’ll only last like 3-6 hours depending on your ambient temperatures and screen brightness.
So if you use your smartwatch pretty actively, you’ll get about 24 hours.
Of course this is me trying to give it justice for such a small amount of time given.
Well, other sites are reporting that it only lasts 12 hours of usage. I’d be curious to find out which is true…12 or 24. If it’s 24 then that’s acceptable really because you charge your phone every day anyways so why not your smart watch.
I think Google Now is going to be the main thing I use on a smart watch. Especially when walking around in downtown. Navigation will be lovely without having to hold my phone.
dat black area
I thought TI stopped making processors. Their last device was the droid x2 iirc…
I think the battery size should be enough, if the processor was better. Texas Instruments took their ball and went home 3 years ago when their processors couldn’t keep up with Qualcomm. Everyone remembers the terrible battery life on the galaxy nexus, right? I am really disappointed Motorola didn’t use the Snapdragon processor in this watch. It might be a deal breaker for me.
I’ve watched this video like 3 times and every time Chris says “OK google now” in the video mind you, my phone exits YouTube and opens the voice search lol. Cut that ish out homes…
These things (both the Moto and the LG) still look to oversized and dorkey. Not sure of the need to have a Android phone in the right hand and a Android watch on the left…..
someone needs to make a white decal for that black bar so when you use a white face it dont look bad…lol
Yah that’s smart. Cover up the sensors with a decal.
Someone needs to stop getting butthurt over the choice of not having a bezel around the face and instead choose to have a very small area to put the on.
Sigh…i didnt mean tye sensor im sire the sensor is a tiny dot on that black space…u can make a decal with a whole in it artard