Moto 360: Form over Function? [Review]

[jzfgs]

I'm sure most of you on this forum have heard of Android Wear (if you haven't, it's Google's operating system for wearables), so I won't go too in depth about the software and it's functionality (although for the entirety of my review period I've used the latest 4.4W.1 software revision, which I installed straight out of the box).

This review is about all the good, bad, and the ugly of the Moto 360.

Now, when Motorola first announced this watch almost six months ago, I was one of the first to board the hype train. After wearing and using one at Google I/O, I moved to first class. And as soon as we heard of the TI OMAP 3 SoC inside, I climbed out the window and bailed.

If it isn't already obvious, I downright dreaded the prospect of four year-old silicon running my $250 smartwatch.

But we all know Motorola's pulled off impressive feats with low-specced hardware in the past (Moto G, 1st Gen Moto X), so when my free unit for being a Google I/O attendee came I figured I'd give it a shot.

When you first see this watch, you'll immediately notice the display. With the Gorilla Glass 3s beveled edges, punchy colors, and surprisingly good viewing angles, it gives a great first (and lasting) impression.

My only complaints here are the extremely low resolution (text is huge and noticeably pixelated), and how the bevel causes the parts of some notifications to distort when viewed on an angle (albeit only with watch faces that have 'large' notification cards such as Google's 'Simple').

But then there's that "flat tire effect" on the bottom. But I'll be honest with you, I actually prefer this to a fully round display.

I find Google now cards look infinitely better with a straight line on the top and bottom, rather than in a semicircle:

Image credit: Mashable.com

Image credit: CNET.com

As you can see, most of the space taken up by the bezel on the Moto watch is just blank white on the G Watch R. Hence is why I like Moto's approach here.

Now, onto battery life. Unfortunately, it's a real rough spot for this smartwatch. And that's not saying much, because I like to charge it every night. It keeps it a routine, makes a nice alarm clock, and it's almosteasier to place it in the magnetic dock then on the table next to it.

And while I may be fine placing my watch on a charger each night, I'm not OK with worrying about the battery life before that time comes. With my G Watch, I can go a 20+ hour day without even breaching 30%.

But this thing can't last a 16 hour day. Even a with light use (on Auto Brightness), just three or four notifications, and little interaction otherwise (no Google Now, either). After about 11 or 12 hours, it begins its automatic shutdown.

And that was with Ambient Mode on.

Oh, but a little something on Ambient Mode first. Every single review I've seen has gotten this wrong.

Ambient Mode does NOT keep the display on all the time.

What it does, is it makes the watch come on in it's dimmed state with less motion than it takes for a full activation (pay attention to the angle of the watch screen in the pictures below. It shows the minimum amount of movement required to change from black to dimmed to active.)

(It's a little dark, but the screen is flat and not tilted to the side like the others)

While you can get significantly improved battery life (2-3x better) turning Ambient Mode off, it's no use to me to have a watch that doesn't tell me the time all the time. My LG G watch, on the other hand, gets better battery life with its screen on 24/7 than the Moto does with the screen off. That's a real shame.

However, if the abysmal battery life wasn't enough of a downfall, the horrendous performance just adds insult to injury.

"Horrendous" may be too strong of a word. But only half the time. Half the time I tap the screen when it's off, and it doesn't wake up. Half the time when I rotate it all the way, the screen stays dim. Half the time when I scroll, it drops about half the frames. And half the time when I say "OK Google", it just sits there, and the rest of the bus stares at me like I have three heads (which is strange since Motorola has bragged about their superior voice technology and including two microphones).

Inconsistency is something you'll experience quite often while using the Moto 360—you never know if it'll work perfectly... Or freeze.

If I had to guess, I'd say the performance hiccups are from throttling. While the device is off, it undoubtedly lowers CPU+GPU clock speeds to save power, and it may just take a couple seconds once awoken to ramp back up again. Hopefully these issues (amongst others) can be addressed in a future software update.

Well fortunately, that's most of the bad stuff. The rest is almost purely positive.

The stainless steel construction feels great, the leather strap is high-quality, and even on my miniscule wrists the Moto 360 fits like a glove. The gold trim around the sleep/wake button (that can also open settings if held) shows how much attention to detail Motorola took in designing this watch.

Lastly, the heartrate sensor is pretty cool. It tends to take a long time if activated on demand, but it does a good job of measuring how much "active time" (with a heart rate between 90 and 120 beats per minute) I've had in a day, and alerting me when I've completed the daily 30 minutes (although I'd really like to be able to change the heartrate window and time amount, as I usually meet this preset goal by noon).

So now it's conclusion time, and I have pretty mixed feelings about the Moto 360. But I think Ron Amadeo from Ars Technical got it right by calling it "Beautiful outside, ugly inside".

It's an astounding piece of hardware, but the lackluster internals hold it back from the true glory I feel it deserves.

While hopefully battery life and performance can be (at least partially) addressed in future updates, I think I'd have to wait until the 2nd generation to wholeheartedly recommend this watch to anyone.

If you wear watches solely as a fashion statement, work short days, or are fine with the screen off, this is the best smartwatch you can buy.

But if you aren't part of that niche, I feel you'd be better with the ($70 cheaper) LG G Watch.

You've likely realized by now that I've drawn numerous comparisons to LG's first Android Wear offering. I've been using mine every day since I got it at Google I/O, and it's straight up more polished than the 360. Everything works, all the time. No muss, no fuss, as they say.

With smartwatches, I don't just want another gadget to mess around with. I want something that will simplify my life. In its current stage, the Moto 360 does the opposite.

All things considered, I have to give the Motorola Moto 360 a solid 80%, mostly because that beautiful screen just doesn't make a difference when it's dead.

It's the age-old question of form over function, and it's up to you what matters most.

Feel free to contact @SolarTrans on Twitter with questions, comments, or criticisms!

[PhantomChevron]

Sir. Great review and all, but this is the wrong section.

[jzfgs]

Didn't realize there was a news and reviews section until now haha

I'm too used XDA

I'll post it there isntead

[menendez1293]

No idea what is up with your unit, but my Moto360 lasted 30 hours over the weekend. I took it off the charger at 12PM EST on Saturday and it ended up dying at 6:30EST on Sunday. Overall I really like my 360 and it will be staying with me. 

[shadowblitz3]

You should start your own tech blog

[jzfgs]

No idea what is up with your unit, but my Moto360 lasted 30 hours over the weekend. I took it off the charger at 12PM EST on Saturday and it ended up dying at 6:30EST on Sunday. Overall I really like my 360 and it will be staying with me.

Battery is great with Ambient Mode off. I mentioned that it's 2-3x better that way.

I can also get around 30 hours that way

With it on though, that's where it suffers, and I much prefer using it with Ambient Mode on

[jzfgs]

You should start your own tech blog

Thanks! I've been strongly considering it. I've done a couple reviews of the OnePlus One over on their forums, and I posted this there also.