Moto 360 2015 First Impression – A Beautiful Android Wear Watch

Motorola 360 2^nd gen is official and kicking in India and the obvious first question is how much of an improvement it actually is. If you haven’t had close experience with original Moto 360, the design improvements won’t be that obvious at first glance, but yes design is where the Moto 360 evolves and in the right direction, we must say.

Key Specifications and features:

The new Moto 360

As stated, design is the first priority here and that makes absolute sense, since Watches have always been about enhancing your style quotient. So what has improved?

• The primary design improvement is that the new Moto 360 adds lugs instead of strap pushing its way into the main dial.
• You can easily remove straps yourself by sliding a pin and attach new ones without any tools required.
• The crown has been shifted at 2 PM where it is more convenient to operate and shall also prevent accidental touches.
• You get to choose from 46mm and 42mm variants depending on your wrist choice and though there is no Moto Maker in India, there are options for women too.

We had a good look at all Moto 360 variants that were demonstrated and all of them felt convincing. The rose gold blush leather variant looked absolutely fabulous on Jaqueline’s wrist making a strong case for itself. For women – dare I say this- this is the best looking Smartwatch.

With the new Moto 360, you won’t have to compromise with style, that is, if you are willing to pay the right price. The base 19,999 INR black leather strap variant already had scuff marks which makes us question how well it would hold in long run.

The black metal strap 46mm variant was a personal favorite, but the strap was too tight for my wrist. Motorola representative assured me that 2 additional strap links are bundled in the box and can be attached to make it a perfect fit.

Moto 360 2nd Gen Photo Gallery 

But, retains that thickness and flat- tire display

Shouldn’t all smartwatches have AMOLED displays? They look good, are slimmer and are light on battery, which is always a constraint with wearables (and even smartphones). Anyways, Motorola sticks to backlit LCD panel that just about does the job. The display isn’t round and a dead black strip at the bottom breaks the circular harmony. This is where Motorola places ambient light sensors.

How much of a deal breaker this is will depend on your personal taste, but we didn’t particularly loathe it. It’s fine.

Android Wear Software

Moto 360 2015 can track your activity, can notify you of incoming calls and messages, can let you browse Google maps, can pop contextually aware Google Now cards just when you need them the most and can also help you find your phone.

Motorola has also thrown in some cool watch faces, Moto Body (fitness tracking app) and a new heart rate sensor in the mix.

However, the Android wear software is still work in progress. It is still lucrative for users invested in Google’s ecosystem and Google Now, but there is no denying that the software isn’t very intuitive and besides there is no rotating bezel or crown hardware that closely teams up with the software to make your life simpler. The good thing is that with the Moto 360 you can expect timely updates.

Performance and Expectations

The Moto 360 2015 has more powerful hardware that last gen model, good enough to drive Android wear on a watch, but we would sincerely like to reserve our verdict till we have tested it in our own space. We didn’t witness any UI Lag in our hands-on time, but Google Now was quite slow on the demo-units, but don’t let that disappoint you as the slow WiFi at the event venue was the likely culprit.

I am not a big fan of wearables and Moto 360 seem to do nothing that appeals to users like me (If Motorola’s battery life claims (1.5 day) hold water, that might change). However there are users who think otherwise. If you are looking for an Android wear Smartwatch at current evolutionary stage, Moto 360 2015 seems to be a very reasonable option.