Motorola Angles For New Smartwatch Fans With Updated Moto 360 Lineup
(Motorola)
Round abounds in this summer’s batch of smartwatches.
After Samsung, Huawei, and Fossil introduced new circle-faced smartwatches of their own in August, Motorola is now rolling out a new lineup of its popular wheel-shaped Moto 360 Android Wear watches, with preorders opening Wednesday.
Those who were won over by Motorola’s original 360 will be pleased to find that, for the most part, this year’s lineup expands on that design. With these updates, Motorola seems intent on attracting new batches of devotees, particularly women and fitness buffs.
More choices to go around
The 2015 Moto 360 comes in a bunch of different sizes and designs: In addition to the return of the huge 46 mm size, there are also a new, scaled-down 42 mm version; a women’s model (with a thinner band); and the 360 Sport.
From watchband to casing materials, each new type of Moto 360 can be customized at the company’s Moto Maker website, with resulting prices ranging from $300 to $430.
(Yahoo Tech)
Moto’s new darling, the 360 for Women, is a version of the petite 42 mm Moto watch but with a 16 mm band instead of the usual 20 mm. It comes in casing styles and band options that (ostensibly) cater to feminine tastes.
The upcoming Moto Sport will have a one-piece silicon casing/band and will also offer GPS tracking and a display that can be easily read in the sunlight.
Circling back on design
The hardware design of these new Moto 360 watches offers more of the same, in a couple different ways.
The new 360 has a larger screen bezel than its predecessor. At the same time, it retains the “flat tire” indentation on its face. (“Flat tire” is the *adoring* name given to the blacked-out area at the bottom of Moto’s otherwise round screen. It makes the watch’s face look like a flat car tire.) In terms of looks, there’s never been a lot to love about that flat tire. But, the company insists, to accommodate the watch’s compact assembly, the blacked-out space is necessary for housing sensors and display electronics. Motorola touts the 360 as having the “largest screen:case ratio” of any smartwatch on the market.
Motorola’s illustration of screen:case ratio. (Motorola)
Thanks to its larger casing and new band lugs, this year’s 360 will work not only with Moto’s new quick-release watchbands but also with any standard 20 mm and 16 mm band.
Rounding up the new features
Since it has Google’s Android Wear inside, the Moto 360 mostly functions the same as both its predecessor and all its LG, Samsung, Asus, and Sony smartwatch cousins. The small tweaks in 2015’s 360 include: the introduction of the Live Dial watch face, which provides shortcuts to your most-used apps; and the Moto Body app, which uses the smartwatch’s activity sensors to calculate fitness stats and goals.
This 360 will also launch with Wi-Fi connectivity, which came to the original 360 via a software update earlier this year and which allows you to stay connected when your watch and phone are out of Bluetooth range of each other. The recently announced Android Wear iPhone compatibility is also onboard, so Moto’s slick new smartwatch is open to Apple people too.
(Yahoo Tech)
Another welcome improvement: Motorola claims the new 360 will get up to two full days of use on a single battery charge. Of course, we’re not sure how that will translate to real-world performance; the original Moto 360 claimed to offer 24 hours of battery life, but our tests found that 12 to 14 hours was more likely.
“Late September” is as specific as Motorola has gotten with exact shipping dates and in-store availabilities for its new watches. But men and women alike can roll over to Motorola.com now to preorder their very own customized Moto 360s right now.
Email me at danbean@yahoo-inc.com. Follow me on Twitter at danielwbean.
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