When
I first saw the Motorola 360 I immediately made a conscious decision
that this was the best looking Android watch that would be available by
far. At the time of the announcements / internet leaks and various
other media outlets we basically had the LG G watch, the Samsung Galaxy
Gear, and the Pebble off the top of my head. None of these looked as
svelte as Motorola's 360.
The long road of its availability was another story. As seems to be the case with most internet announcements the path from pictures and teaser videos, even from Motorola themselves, was a long one. Low and behold the Motorola 360 is "here." I say "here" tentatively because it is still in relatively short supply at Canadian Brick and Mortar stores and even Motorola Canada's own web page has it as "coming soon."
Regardless, I have had the Stone Grey Moto 360 for the last week and wanted to discuss its strengths and weaknesses with everyone.
Let me preface this firstly by saying that I do in fact wear a watch daily. So to put on the Motorola 360 wasn't an issue. Just a swap out of my daily routine.
Battery
Life and Usage
My main concern was if the Motorola 360 would last me the day. I had read many reviews prior and wanted to see for myself. I didn't have a chance to test out the 360 prior to the latest sw update which was said to cure a lot of the speed and battery ills plaguing the initial launch of the Motorola 360.
The battery capacity of the Motorola 360 is 320mAh.
I am happy to report that I was able to get a full day out of the 360. My last foray into wearables was the Samsung Galaxy Gear which was unable to get me though the day.
My usage would be typical of many with one twist. I receive notifications for sms / Facebook Messenger / Calendar alerts etc etc. Basically as much as the next guy/gal I would assume. The twist for me is that I drive all day. so I'm basically always swinging my arm around. So much so that it would be safe to say the screen was lit a lot more then I wanted it to be. I did not use the ambient screen mode, and quite frankly, would have loved if the 360 had an option to turn OFF the gyro. I would gladly push the button if I wanted to light up the face (alerts will light up the watch on their own anyway.)
Here is my usage day by day that I jotted down:
Saturday Nov 15: 9:30 am to 830pm 15% warning. 1015 pm died.
Sunday Nov 16: 12:00 pm to 2:15 am 20% battery remaining.
Tuesday Nov 18: 10:00 am to 1200 am 21% battery remaining.
Wednesday Nov 19: 7:30 am till 12:00 am battery depleted
Thursday Nov 20: 9:00 am till 1:30 am battery depleted
Friday Nov 21: 9:00 am till 1:00 am 24%
Saturday Nov 22 9:15 am until 2:30 am 20% remaining.
It's also worth mentioning that I experienced no real detriment to the battery life on my OnePlus One either when comparing no watch vs having watch. Then again, the OnePlus One's battery life is simply fantastic and is the only phone to date that can last through one of my days of usage but that's another story for another day.
Charging:
The beauty of the Motorola 360 is that it doesn't use a strange clasp or dock with pins to charge. It uses the QI standard. I happen to have a few QI chargers lying around and found that charging the Moto 360 was easy. The simple fact that it lasted me the whole day meant I really didn't have to "top it off" during the day. You easily can if you have a QI charger at your desk. While this isn't as easy as the standard MicroUSB charging implemented in the new Sony Smart Watch 3 it is substantially more elegant. Take off watch, plop down and watch it charge. I have the LG WCP 300 in the house so I tested it on that, and it worked with no issues. Pretty handy when I'm just chilling watching TV. I can just plop the watch there and juice it up.
The nice touch about the Motorola 360 was that when charging it displays a very nice charging ring and clock. While at first I thought it was a bit of a gimmick I actually started to position the watch towards my bed so that I could use it as my nightstand bed clock. If you're going to charge the watch up anyway may as well make it functional!
Hardware
Specs
The specs of the Motorola 360 break down as such:
1.56" 320x290, 205ppi Display
46mm x 11.5mm high casing
Backlit LCD
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
320mAh battery
Wireless Charging (QI)
124 grams weight as tested.
TI OMAP 3 processor
4GB internal storage with 512MB of RAM
Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Low Energy)
Sensors: Pedometer and Heart Rate Monitor
IP67 Water resistance
Single Physical Button
Vibration Motor
Dual Microphones
Aesthetic and Feel
The Motorola 360 is simply kilometers ahead of the rest in terms of aesthetic and fit and finish of the components. The 360 first and foremost looks and feels like a watch. I got quite a few compliments from my friends asking about my "new watch." This is important because to many, it will just look like another nice timepiece. Its stainless steel casing and Horween leather strap look and feel like a real watch should. It was only afterwards they realized that they were looking at a 1.56' 320x290, 205ppi Backlit LCD Screen with Gorilla Glass 3.
If you happen to want a watch, that looks like a watch and will give you Android Wear alerts then I wholeheartedly recommend the 360. It really made that good of an impression on me.
Software
The nice thing about the Motorola 360 is that it is running Android Wear. This allows me to enjoy multiple manufacturers of Android Wear and Android phones. Unlike Samsung's prior approach which uses Gear Manager on Samsung phones sandboxing everything into Samsung's walled garden the Android Wear initiative lets me mix and match as needed. Case and point; I'm using this Motorola 360 on my OnePlus One. Just download the Android Wear app onto your phone and go go go! (Samsung also has Android Wear watches as well if you really prefer their design language.)
Being my first taste of Android Wear on a watch, and the ecosystem in general I really have nothing to compare it to except my first taste of smartwatches that went back to the Samsung Galaxy Gear. I can tell you that I already like the Motorola 360 and Android Wear significantly more then I did with the Galaxy Gear and Gear manager simply because of its ease of use, and plentiful app support already available this early out of the gate.
There are a myriad of simple little apps to use with your Android Wear watch. The main apps themselves support Android Wear such as Facebook, Twitter, SMS (I tested textra, hangouts and Google messenger with no issues on any) Gmail, Maps, remote camera, Find my phone, Ringtone selectors and more!
I've included a few shots of the settings screen on the moto 360 itself for your perusal:
The Android Wear app itself is fairly straight forward, allowing you to select default apps if you have more then 1 in that category as well as affording you the ability to customize the watch faces and even add your own pictures. You can also see the connection and battery status and last recorded GPS location of the watch.
The Apps that support Android Wear also come to the party as well. I can't tell you how handy it was to get SMS / Facebook Messenger / Navigation and basically any other notification that is pushed to your Android Phone's Notification tray handed over to your watch.
Facebook messenger would pop up allowing me to swipe right and dictate a reply (if you have facebook messenger groups muted they will NOT bother you on your watch)
SMS would give me the option of replying via voice OR using a canned response.
Even my Plex Media Server got in on the notification action pushing the ability to play / pause and control the volume of the Movie that I legally rented for my viewing pleasure:
Navigation on the Android Wear was also surprisingly good. From the ability to say "navigate home"
Not only that, but with each impending turn or direction the 360 will vibrate showing the next action on the watch itself. Couple that with your phone (in my case the very loud OnePlus One) speaking out the directions you have a winning navigation solution!
I ran into an issue a few times where the watch would say "Calculating" but nothing actually happened. It then prompted me to Open on Phone and just sat there. I would press Open on Phone and zilch. Nada. I would blame the phone in this case though seeing as the the Motorola 360 doesn't really do any of the heavy lifting here and hands that off the the phone to calculate and display. Regardless this feature was simply fantastic when working. It's a lot easier to drive somewhere when your watch is displaying the next action because chances are, your hands are on the wheel and your watch will be within your eyesight while driving.
The Pedometer I didn't use. I have no interest in using it. I wish there was an actual option in the watch itself or Android Wear to completely disable the pedometer to save some battery life but there was none.
As an example, The Moto 360 says I've taken 2306 steps as of today. Today I sat all day playing GTA V and writing this review so I'm not quite sure how it's getting these values.
For you Gym Rats I apologise. I'm lazy. So I really can't tell you if this will help you in your workouts. I don't really see the Motorola 360 fitting the part though. It's a classy watch for everyday use. I see the Sony Smart Watch 3 as a better fit for that market to be honest.
Closing Thoughts
I have to say that I am quite happy with the Motorola 360. When wearables first hit the scene I had a "who needs em" attitude. I can honestly say that after using the Moto 360 this attitude has changed. Being that I wear a watch anyway this isn't an issue for me and fits my needs. I really liked having alerts and notifications come to my wrist allowing me to decide if I wanted to action them and pull out my phone or not. A lot of the time it's for simple messages anyway where a yes or no answer will do anyway so swiping away on the Motorola 360 to answer those SMS's has become second nature to me.
I even got used to dictating commands to the watch via Google Now.
The success rate of those commands were good but there is room for improvement. My issues are that with no real audible queues from what watch as to when to actually speak I found I was doing a lot of talking before it was ready. Unlike Google Now on a phone which gives you that audible beep to tell you when to start talking you have to look at the watch and then talk when it says so. I found that counter intuitive and would have even preferred having the option of having it vibe when it wants me to speak.
The Android Wear market is just starting. I do see it as being successful though because the Motorola 360 changed my opinion of "who needs it" to "this is really handy."
I look forward to the metal band release of the 360 to add to my watches.
Pros
*Best looking Android Wear watch by far. Even better looking then some normal watches
*Fit and finish is excellent
*Leather strap is very nice and not cheap feeling
*Button on the side have a very nice trim ring and a very satisfying tactile feel when pushed
*Qi Charging
*Battery life lasted my whole day. Even going out in the evening.
*Customize and download watch faces till the cows come home
*fantastic handling of Android alerts. Very intuitive to swipe
Cons
*Can't disable pedometer (not really an issue but an issue for me.)
*Can't disable the screen lighting up while moving
*No audible / tactile feel when Google Now is prompting you
*TI OMAP 3 processor is a bit aged and dated for this category
*"Flat tire" on bottom. You learn to live with it when you know why it is there but it's still ugly.
I give this watch 4.2 out of 5 Howies
I'd Like to Thank Motorola Canada for providing www.howardforums.com with this Motorola 360 for review in Stone Grey
The long road of its availability was another story. As seems to be the case with most internet announcements the path from pictures and teaser videos, even from Motorola themselves, was a long one. Low and behold the Motorola 360 is "here." I say "here" tentatively because it is still in relatively short supply at Canadian Brick and Mortar stores and even Motorola Canada's own web page has it as "coming soon."
Regardless, I have had the Stone Grey Moto 360 for the last week and wanted to discuss its strengths and weaknesses with everyone.
Let me preface this firstly by saying that I do in fact wear a watch daily. So to put on the Motorola 360 wasn't an issue. Just a swap out of my daily routine.
Battery
Life and Usage
My main concern was if the Motorola 360 would last me the day. I had read many reviews prior and wanted to see for myself. I didn't have a chance to test out the 360 prior to the latest sw update which was said to cure a lot of the speed and battery ills plaguing the initial launch of the Motorola 360.
The battery capacity of the Motorola 360 is 320mAh.
I am happy to report that I was able to get a full day out of the 360. My last foray into wearables was the Samsung Galaxy Gear which was unable to get me though the day.
My usage would be typical of many with one twist. I receive notifications for sms / Facebook Messenger / Calendar alerts etc etc. Basically as much as the next guy/gal I would assume. The twist for me is that I drive all day. so I'm basically always swinging my arm around. So much so that it would be safe to say the screen was lit a lot more then I wanted it to be. I did not use the ambient screen mode, and quite frankly, would have loved if the 360 had an option to turn OFF the gyro. I would gladly push the button if I wanted to light up the face (alerts will light up the watch on their own anyway.)
Here is my usage day by day that I jotted down:
Saturday Nov 15: 9:30 am to 830pm 15% warning. 1015 pm died.
Sunday Nov 16: 12:00 pm to 2:15 am 20% battery remaining.
Tuesday Nov 18: 10:00 am to 1200 am 21% battery remaining.
Wednesday Nov 19: 7:30 am till 12:00 am battery depleted
Thursday Nov 20: 9:00 am till 1:30 am battery depleted
Friday Nov 21: 9:00 am till 1:00 am 24%
Saturday Nov 22 9:15 am until 2:30 am 20% remaining.
It's also worth mentioning that I experienced no real detriment to the battery life on my OnePlus One either when comparing no watch vs having watch. Then again, the OnePlus One's battery life is simply fantastic and is the only phone to date that can last through one of my days of usage but that's another story for another day.
Charging:
The beauty of the Motorola 360 is that it doesn't use a strange clasp or dock with pins to charge. It uses the QI standard. I happen to have a few QI chargers lying around and found that charging the Moto 360 was easy. The simple fact that it lasted me the whole day meant I really didn't have to "top it off" during the day. You easily can if you have a QI charger at your desk. While this isn't as easy as the standard MicroUSB charging implemented in the new Sony Smart Watch 3 it is substantially more elegant. Take off watch, plop down and watch it charge. I have the LG WCP 300 in the house so I tested it on that, and it worked with no issues. Pretty handy when I'm just chilling watching TV. I can just plop the watch there and juice it up.
The nice touch about the Motorola 360 was that when charging it displays a very nice charging ring and clock. While at first I thought it was a bit of a gimmick I actually started to position the watch towards my bed so that I could use it as my nightstand bed clock. If you're going to charge the watch up anyway may as well make it functional!
Hardware
Specs
The specs of the Motorola 360 break down as such:
1.56" 320x290, 205ppi Display
46mm x 11.5mm high casing
Backlit LCD
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
320mAh battery
Wireless Charging (QI)
124 grams weight as tested.
TI OMAP 3 processor
4GB internal storage with 512MB of RAM
Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Low Energy)
Sensors: Pedometer and Heart Rate Monitor
IP67 Water resistance
Single Physical Button
Vibration Motor
Dual Microphones
Aesthetic and Feel
The Motorola 360 is simply kilometers ahead of the rest in terms of aesthetic and fit and finish of the components. The 360 first and foremost looks and feels like a watch. I got quite a few compliments from my friends asking about my "new watch." This is important because to many, it will just look like another nice timepiece. Its stainless steel casing and Horween leather strap look and feel like a real watch should. It was only afterwards they realized that they were looking at a 1.56' 320x290, 205ppi Backlit LCD Screen with Gorilla Glass 3.
If you happen to want a watch, that looks like a watch and will give you Android Wear alerts then I wholeheartedly recommend the 360. It really made that good of an impression on me.
Software
The nice thing about the Motorola 360 is that it is running Android Wear. This allows me to enjoy multiple manufacturers of Android Wear and Android phones. Unlike Samsung's prior approach which uses Gear Manager on Samsung phones sandboxing everything into Samsung's walled garden the Android Wear initiative lets me mix and match as needed. Case and point; I'm using this Motorola 360 on my OnePlus One. Just download the Android Wear app onto your phone and go go go! (Samsung also has Android Wear watches as well if you really prefer their design language.)
Being my first taste of Android Wear on a watch, and the ecosystem in general I really have nothing to compare it to except my first taste of smartwatches that went back to the Samsung Galaxy Gear. I can tell you that I already like the Motorola 360 and Android Wear significantly more then I did with the Galaxy Gear and Gear manager simply because of its ease of use, and plentiful app support already available this early out of the gate.
There are a myriad of simple little apps to use with your Android Wear watch. The main apps themselves support Android Wear such as Facebook, Twitter, SMS (I tested textra, hangouts and Google messenger with no issues on any) Gmail, Maps, remote camera, Find my phone, Ringtone selectors and more!
I've included a few shots of the settings screen on the moto 360 itself for your perusal:
The Android Wear app itself is fairly straight forward, allowing you to select default apps if you have more then 1 in that category as well as affording you the ability to customize the watch faces and even add your own pictures. You can also see the connection and battery status and last recorded GPS location of the watch.
The Apps that support Android Wear also come to the party as well. I can't tell you how handy it was to get SMS / Facebook Messenger / Navigation and basically any other notification that is pushed to your Android Phone's Notification tray handed over to your watch.
Facebook messenger would pop up allowing me to swipe right and dictate a reply (if you have facebook messenger groups muted they will NOT bother you on your watch)
SMS would give me the option of replying via voice OR using a canned response.
Even my Plex Media Server got in on the notification action pushing the ability to play / pause and control the volume of the Movie that I legally rented for my viewing pleasure:
Navigation on the Android Wear was also surprisingly good. From the ability to say "navigate home"
Not only that, but with each impending turn or direction the 360 will vibrate showing the next action on the watch itself. Couple that with your phone (in my case the very loud OnePlus One) speaking out the directions you have a winning navigation solution!
I ran into an issue a few times where the watch would say "Calculating" but nothing actually happened. It then prompted me to Open on Phone and just sat there. I would press Open on Phone and zilch. Nada. I would blame the phone in this case though seeing as the the Motorola 360 doesn't really do any of the heavy lifting here and hands that off the the phone to calculate and display. Regardless this feature was simply fantastic when working. It's a lot easier to drive somewhere when your watch is displaying the next action because chances are, your hands are on the wheel and your watch will be within your eyesight while driving.
The Pedometer I didn't use. I have no interest in using it. I wish there was an actual option in the watch itself or Android Wear to completely disable the pedometer to save some battery life but there was none.
As an example, The Moto 360 says I've taken 2306 steps as of today. Today I sat all day playing GTA V and writing this review so I'm not quite sure how it's getting these values.
For you Gym Rats I apologise. I'm lazy. So I really can't tell you if this will help you in your workouts. I don't really see the Motorola 360 fitting the part though. It's a classy watch for everyday use. I see the Sony Smart Watch 3 as a better fit for that market to be honest.
Closing Thoughts
I have to say that I am quite happy with the Motorola 360. When wearables first hit the scene I had a "who needs em" attitude. I can honestly say that after using the Moto 360 this attitude has changed. Being that I wear a watch anyway this isn't an issue for me and fits my needs. I really liked having alerts and notifications come to my wrist allowing me to decide if I wanted to action them and pull out my phone or not. A lot of the time it's for simple messages anyway where a yes or no answer will do anyway so swiping away on the Motorola 360 to answer those SMS's has become second nature to me.
I even got used to dictating commands to the watch via Google Now.
The success rate of those commands were good but there is room for improvement. My issues are that with no real audible queues from what watch as to when to actually speak I found I was doing a lot of talking before it was ready. Unlike Google Now on a phone which gives you that audible beep to tell you when to start talking you have to look at the watch and then talk when it says so. I found that counter intuitive and would have even preferred having the option of having it vibe when it wants me to speak.
The Android Wear market is just starting. I do see it as being successful though because the Motorola 360 changed my opinion of "who needs it" to "this is really handy."
I look forward to the metal band release of the 360 to add to my watches.
Pros
*Best looking Android Wear watch by far. Even better looking then some normal watches
*Fit and finish is excellent
*Leather strap is very nice and not cheap feeling
*Button on the side have a very nice trim ring and a very satisfying tactile feel when pushed
*Qi Charging
*Battery life lasted my whole day. Even going out in the evening.
*Customize and download watch faces till the cows come home
*fantastic handling of Android alerts. Very intuitive to swipe
Cons
*Can't disable pedometer (not really an issue but an issue for me.)
*Can't disable the screen lighting up while moving
*No audible / tactile feel when Google Now is prompting you
*TI OMAP 3 processor is a bit aged and dated for this category
*"Flat tire" on bottom. You learn to live with it when you know why it is there but it's still ugly.
I give this watch 4.2 out of 5 Howies
I'd Like to Thank Motorola Canada for providing www.howardforums.com with this Motorola 360 for review in Stone Grey
This article was originally published in forum thread:
Motorola 360 and Me.
started by
Treatz
View original post
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